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Apropos an article "BB owed her life to masses" by Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira there is no doubt that Benazir Bhutto was a stateswoman par excellence whose love for her people and for her homeland was her only pride as she believed that like her father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto she owed her life to them. And she gave a practical demonstration of that claim by sacrificing her own life.

It is true that she could go for many worldly comforts like most of other politicians who were not accustomed to fighting the formidable forces inimical to peace, public welfare and love for the downtrodden. As pointed out by Mr Kaira, she, however, chose the path of living - or dying - with grace which meant earmarking her energies and God-gifted abilities for the people of Pakistan. Serving the masses was her passion. Before her martyrdom on December 27 five years back, she knew she would be confronted with the fiercest of foes back in the country that were not confined to one sector or segment rather these forces of darkness were hidden within the ranks of the powers that be as much as they were to be found in the extremist ranks. These elements were, in reality, the enemies of freedom of thought and of freedom to live without taboos and inhibitions. BB Shaheed, being the torchbearer of civil, individual liberties and public empowerment was deemed a big stumbling block in the way of these destructive forces that had plotted to assassinate the enlightened visionary on a number of occasions.

Mr Kaira has plausibly argued that the people who assassinated BB Shaheed did not realise that BB Shaheed's mission couldn't be dampened even, what to talk of thinking of putting an end to that mission of humanity, learning and people's emancipation. Such missions don't die. BB Shaheed, without an iota of doubt, is still living among us through her convictions, her faith in people's shining destiny and through the continuity of her mission that not even martial laws, powerful military dictators, formidable juntas and establishments could erase from the hearts and minds of the people of Pakistan. So, when the people raise the slogan, "Zinda Hai Bibi, Zinda Hai", they mean it. She lives within them as a lighthouse that guides you through dark passages, ups and downs of life.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2012


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