I am reposting last year’s post on Benazir. Dont miss Hasan Mujtaba’s poem at the end.
Benazir Bhutto was murdered on December 27th 2007. She and her father made many mistakes and had many weaknesses and flaws, perhaps fatal ones. But they mobilized the common people of Pakistan like no one before or since, and they did so using a left-liberal vocabulary that always seemed to get on the nerves of Pakistan’s deep state. And of course, whatever their flaws, no one could accuse either father or daughter of lacking courage. Benazir knew the risks when she came back to Pakistan. She survived one assassination attempt in Karachi in which nearly 200 of her most ardent supporters were killed. But she continued to hold public meetings and she continued to speak out and paid the ultimate penalty…
Look at the crowds who danced for her (and who will mourn her in Garhi Khuda Baksh) and you will see why, in spite of all disappointments and mistakes, she is now “Shaheed Rani” (the martyr queen); she represents something larger than her actual political achievements. In her death she has become a potent symbol of people’s rights and democracy and a permanent thorn in the side of Pakistan’s establishment.
Incidentally, those too young to remember and getting extremely excited at the crowds who gather at Imran Khan’s public meetings may wish to see some clips in this video of Benazir’s arrival in Lahore in 1986. That was, bar none, the largest crowd ever seen in the history of Pakistan… and they were not sitting on chairs..
Some clips in her own voice.
A very nice photo and video montage in her memory, set to a famous ghazal by Shad Azeem Abadi : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmzN7Z_GgIc
btw, the ghazal lyrics are quite appropriate and can be seen alongside a somewhat pedestrian translation here.
another montage here. Beena Sarwar’s collection of photographs from her arrival in Karachi, and a really good video and photo montage to round it off.
PPP tarana (anthem), arrangement by Stewart Copeland of The Police, vocals Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari (her daughter) and Azra Malik. Original composition by Zahoor Khan Zeibi
Hasan Dars poem on her death, sung by Mazhar Hussain
Raza Rumi’s poem and his own translation: http://razarumi.com/2008/02/13/people-of-this-murderous-city/
Sidelined leader Aitazaz Ahsan in fine form at her anniversary, skip to minute 20 for his recitation of yet another poem with karbala references (lashkar e yazeed main, ik kaneez e karbala…in the midst of Yazeed’s army, one maid of Karbala…where would protest literature in the Islamicate world be without karbala?): http://tribune.com.pk/multimedia/videos/312770/
Bilawal Bhutto’s tribute today. And one by Suleman Akhtar on the progressive PPP website.
In a media dominated by anti-PPP forces, Hamid Mir of Capital Talk presented a very good program on her death anniversary.
Mohammed Hanif, author of “a case of exploding mangoes” and “our lady of Alice Bhatti” has a piece.
The well planned assassination can be seen in this video
Hasan Mujtaba’s famous poem on the occasion is an absolute classic. I have translated it with his approval (I have taken some poetic license at places, and I am not a poet..so beware):
How many Bhuttos will you kill?
A Bhutto will emerge from every home!
This lament is heard in every house
These tears seen in every dwelling place
These eyes stare in the endless desert
This slogan echoes in every field of death
These stars scatter like a million stones
Flung by the moon that rises so bright tonight
How many Bhuttos will you kill?
A Bhutto will emerge from every home!
The one you killed is now fragrance in the air
How will you ever block its path?
The one you killed is now a spell
That is cast upon your evil head
Every prison and every lock
Will now be opened with this key
She has become the howling wind
That haunts the courtyards of this land
She has come to eternal life by dying
You are dead even while being alive
How many Bhuttos will you kill?
A Bhutto will emerge from every home!
You men in Khaki uniforms
You dark and long bearded souls
You may be blue or green or red
You may be white, you may be black
You are thieves and criminals, every one
You national bullies, you evil ones
Driven by self or owned by others
Nurtured by darkness in blackest night
While she has become the beauty that lives
In twilights last glimmers and the break of dawn
How many Bhuttos will you kill?
A Bhutto will emerge from every home!
She was the nightingale who sang for those who suffered
She was the scent of rain in the land of Thar
She was the laughter of happy children
She was the season of dancing with joy
She was a colorful peacock’s tail
While you, the dark night of robbers and thieves
How many Bhuttos will you kill?
A Bhutto will emerge from every home!
She was the sister of those who toil in the fields
The daughter of workers who work the mills
A prisoner of those with too much wealth
Of clever swindlers and hideous crooks
Of swaggering generals and vile betrayers
She was one solitary unarmed girl
Facing the court of evil kings
How many Bhuttos will you kill?
A Bhutto will emerge from every home!
She was the daughter of Punjab
Of Khyber and Bolan
She was the daughter of Sindh
Karbala of our time
She lay drenched in blood in Rawalpindi
Surrounded by guns and bullets and bombs
She was one solitary defenseless gazelle
Surrounded by packs of ruthless killers
O Time, tell the long lived trees of Chinar
This tyrant’s worse nightmare will come true one day
She shall return, she will be back
That dream will one day come alive
And rule again. And rule again.
How many Bhuttos will you kill?
A Bhutto will emerge from every home!
