FIFTY years of a political party’s disintegration is what Zahid Hussain writes in his column ‘From Bhutto to Bilawal’ (Dec 6). He writes: “At fifty, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is not even a shadow of its past glory.”

Undoubtedly Bhutto had chrisma and was head and shoulders above the pygmies that represent our political culture now. However, this headiness got to him. His first fatal mistake was his inability to recognise a friend from a foe. He picked a man from down the wrung as his army chief and that quiet, humble Gen Ziaul Haq later tried him for murder and hanged him.

His second big mistake was his arrogance — while being tried, he believed his party supporters would lynch Gen Zia if he dared hang him. That too unfortunately didn’t happen. His third error was to ask his Gestapo-type police to beat up his colleague, J.A. Rahim, for refusing to wait outside his office.

His fourth mistake was his impatience to get to the top. When Sheikh Mujibur Rehman won an absolute majority in the 1971 election, he realised that an East Pakistani would always stand in the way of his becoming the prime minister, so he issued that famous saying: “Idhar hum udher tum,” meaning let’s divide Pakistan. Hence Bangladesh .

Finally, his last fatal mistake was that he thought he could become a lifetime prime minister by rigging the elections. When he tried that, there was an upheaval in the country and for the first time the Jamat-i-Islami successfully carried out a wheel-jam strike throughout Pakistan. They succeeded in toppling his government and bringing in a disastrous martial law. So Zahid Hussain’s column, though excellent as such, did not mention that Bhutto was also an evil genius.

Sardar Ahmed Shah Jan

Peshawar

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2017