ISLAMABAD: The name of Benazir Bhutto resounded in the Supreme Court when Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar praised her leadership by stating that undoubtedly she was the true leader of this country.

“When I was in Larkana recently, I wanted to pay a visit out of respect for Benazir Bhutto but Naudero was 20km away from my place,” observed the chief justice.

The observation came during the hearing of a case moved by estranged PPP leader Naheed Khan — the former political secretary to slain prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Ms Khan had approached the apex court with a plea to overturn the Islamabad High Court’s rejection of her plea seeking the PPP’s title for her own party.

Benazir was the true leader of this country, observes chief justice

The Supreme Court, however, rejected the petition on the grounds that the case had become infructuous, but the petitioner can approach the competent forum if she has any right.

Soon after the case was over, former secretary general of the Pakistan Peoples Party Parlia­mentarians (PPPP) Latif Khosa, while pointing towards Ms Khan, taunted that “they claim to be the successor of the political party when in fact we are its true heir”.

“Are the ones who claim to be successors, real successors?” wondered senior counsel Iftikhar Gilani who was representing Ms Khan in the case, adding that he was one of those pioneers who formed the PPP. Mr Gilani then hastened to add that the inheritance had been stolen from the party.

Later talking to Dawn, Ms Khan said that the political leadership should not be converted into a family fiefdom or dynasty.

She also showed inclination to move a review petition against Wednesday’s orders after consultation with her counsel.

In her petition, Ms Khan had recalled how Benazir Bhutto had awarded a ticket to contest the National Assembly seat from NA-38 Rawalpindi-III from the platform of the PPP. This showed that she played a pivotal role in the PPP’s affairs.

Electoral laws

In 2002, electoral laws were amended and the PPP was not allowed to contest the election for not being a listed party before the Election Commission of Pakistan. Then the PPP leadership decided to establish another party in the name of the PPPP on March 4, 2013.

But now the PPP as a political entity stood at the crossroads of history, the petition deplored, recalling that after the shahadat of Benazir Bhutto, the party was facing a serious vacuum of leadership and the politics was allegedly confined to a few families and the household of some rich and influential people.

The manifesto of the original PPP set out by its founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto has been discarded and forgotten by the PPPP leadership, she bemoaned.

She highlighted how she and her husband former Senator Dr Safdar Abba, as well as political workers,rs faced hardships after Ms Bhutto’s assassination.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2018