A story of two daughters seeking justice

 Former President Asif Ali Zardari's daughter Asifa Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz

Former President Asif Ali Zardari’s daughter Asifa Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz

News Time

Like it or not, Multan is going to be a new history. It is the founding day of the Pakistan People’s Party. The party’s 54th founding anniversary rally has become a rally of the opposition Ittehad-e-Pakistan Democratic Movement. The government has called for a halt to the rally in the name of the corona virus. Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar addressed a PTI youth convention in Sukkur November 28. The Sindh government made no attempt to stop them. On the other hand, an attempt was made to prevent the PPP from holding its founding day rally in Multan. Government ministers are accusing opposition rallies of spreading corona, but they are not refraining from holding rallies themselves, nor are they preventing Jamaat-e-Islami from holding ralliesand the common man is wondering if the corona virus is spread only by PDM meetings? Pakistan Peoples Party chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari himself is a victim of corona virus. On November 27, he could not attend the engagement ceremony of his younger sister Bakhtawar. At the event, Asifa, younger than Bakhtawar, was hanging out with guests for an iPad and talking to Bilawal’s guests via Skype. Government ministers also tried to politicize the small non-political engagement ceremony, stating that Bilawal’s sister’s engagement was precautionary against the corona virus. All the guests were asked to get their corona tested but Bilawal was not ready to postpone the Multan meeting despite the re-emergence of the corona virus. The government adopted a reluctant tone on the issue instead of being sympathetic to the opposition and in response to this tone; Bilawal Bhutto Zardari himself announced that he would be represented at the Multan meeting on November 30 by Asifa Bhutto Zardari.

Asifa has always distanced herself from practical politics. After completing her education, Bakhtawar oversees the family’s land management and business affairs. Asifa spends most of her time with her father. She sometimes wears her father’s shoes and sometimes stops him from smoking. When Asif Zardari does not believe in anyone, then Asifa is recommended. Last year, Asif Zardari refused to file a bail application due to medical reasons. Senior PPP leaders, including Bilawal, begged the society but Asif Zardari was not ready to sign the bail application. Eventually, Bilawal enlisted the help of Asifa and Asifa persuaded her father to sign the bail application. She is loved by both her father and brother but her father and brother decided that Asifa would definitely attend the meeting in Multan. Asifa’s participation will send a message to the supporters of the opposition parties that not only ordinary people will come out to protest in the wake of the Corona virus, but also the daughter of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto who has never held a big rally before. I did not speak. Not one but two daughters of former prime ministers will address the Multan meeting. Until a few years ago, no one could have imagined that the daughters of Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto would be seen giving speeches on the same stage.

If Nawaz Sharif had not been disqualified in various cases, Maryam Nawaz might not have entered politics. Similarly, Asifa Bhutto Zardari took part in the election campaign of her father and brother in the 2018 elections but she stayed away from practical politics. He was also advised to become a member of the Sindh Assembly through by-elections but his first priority was to take care of his ailing father. In the last few days, the government has created such a situation that Asifa has been pushed into politics by her own family. It should be remembered that Bilawal’s personality is a combination of the characteristics of both his mother and father. Bilawal sometimes speaks harshly and sometimes adopts a conciliatory attitude like his father, but Asifa, like his mother, has a nature to stand up to the most dangerous enemy bullets and bombs. Since childhood, she has seen her mother and father in the grip of conspiracies, due to which her stance on important political issues is a bit aggressive and that is why she still abstains from politics. Now that she is entering politics at the behest of her father and brother, it means that her father and brother are saying goodbye to reconciliation and moving towards resistance.

Asif Zardari has handed over the PPP to Bilawal and Bilawal has tried to reconcile in the recent past. Bringing Asifa into politics for his support means that he is moving towards aggressive politics. There is no denying the fact that so far Imran Khan has been very lucky. As fast as his government has become unpopular, there are few examples. Achieving a majority in the Gilgit-Baltistan elections does not necessarily mean that they are still popular throughout Pakistan. The total number of registered voters in Gilgit-Baltistan is equal to the number of registered voters in only one constituency of the National Assembly. Corona virus is a nuisance for the common man but still a blessing for Imran Khan as the opposition is facing significant difficulties in launching a movement against the government. Then there are the same difficulties that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had to face at the hands of General Ayub Khan on November 30, 1967 after the formation of the PPP. Everyone knows that the differences between Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Ayub Khan were due to the Tashkent Agreement. Ayub Khan signed a peace agreement with India without any assurance of a solution to the Kashmir issue, on which his foreign minister Bhutto resigned and started resisting.

The formation of the Pakistan People’s Party was in fact a reaction to a military dictator’s bargaining over the Kashmir issue. In 1968, Bhutto was stopped from holding a rally in Multan in the same way that the PDM was stopped today. Bhutto was arrested and imprisoned in Sahiwal Jail and after this arrest a movement was started against General Ayub Khan. Today’s opposition is also facing arrests and is busy preparing a movement against the government. All eyes will be on the two speeches at the Multan meeting speech by Maryam Nawaz and Asifa. Asifa may read a short written speech but her message will be the same as that of Maryam Nawaz. The message of the daughters of Nawaz Sharif and Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed will be the same. The two daughters are going to make a new history of resistance.

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