LAHORE, Jan 3: Asma Jehangir, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) chairperson, paid a tribute to slain Pakistan People’s Party leader Benazir Bhutto at a small gathering at Rohtas gallery on Thursday, calling her a “woman of compassion”, whose greatest achievements in power were often forgotten.

Ms Jehangir said she first came across Ms Bhutto during school days when Ms Bhutto was a “quiet, introverted, and uninteresting person”, who later grew both as a politician and a person.

Recalling Ms Bhutto’s achievements in her two tenures, Ms Jehangir said: “(During her second stint) she released all women who were imprisoned under Hudood ordinances, while her very first piece of legislation was to stop public whipping.

“She took great interest in the issue of bonded labourers, and sent out messages to every deputy commissioner in Sindh asking them to cooperate with the HRCP -– that is how thousands of bonded labourers were released in Sindh.”

Ms Jehangir later told Dawn that Ms Bhutto was the first prime minister to allow women to join the high court bench, the first to advocate a quota of one-third women in parliament, and worked hard to empower women in the media.

There were several issues of disagreement between the HRCP and Bhutto’s governments, Ms Jehangir said, and Bhutto found it difficult to accept many of the criticisms, “though I think she knew in her heart what had happened,” said Ms Jehangir.

Recalling various personal anecdotes and her personal friendship with Ms Bhutto, Ms Jehangir said “there was a very human side about her” as she recounted fondly Ms Bhutto’s interactions with women, children, party workers and relatives.

She also said that Ms Bhutto remained very loyal to those who stood by her in hard times, often using the phrase “Burre waqton kay saathi”.

On the allegations of corruption, which blighted Ms Bhutto until the very end, Ms Jehangir said: “We all know that Pakistan is full of corruption, but no single individual has been as humiliated as she has been.”

Ms Jehangir called Ms Bhutto “a friend of all liberal individuals in Pakistan, and a friend of all those that are oppressed,” adding: “She was a woman in this society who lived in dignity and died in dignity I pay tribute to Benazir Bhutto, a friend, a leader, and a great human being.“

Later, Shoaib Hashmi paid tribute to Ms Bhutto through the poetry of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, selecting verses on martyrdom and those who struggle during hard times.