Those were the days of desperation and despondency when the future of Pakistan was uncertain after the fall of East Pakistan. Doom loomed large on the horizon. The people who claimed that Pakistan was a failed state were brimming with joy, as it seemed that their prediction was about to come true. 

In this scenario a leader emerged and came forward to take the responsibility to put the country on the right track. That leader was Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who was called Quaid-e-Awam by the people of Pakistan. The country was on its way to progress and prosperity during his era. Institutions were in place and the governance was never better in the country. 

The Pakistani nation was displaying its true vibrant nature and everyone whether rich or poor, empowered or powerless, big or small was contributing in the country’s betterment. Economy was on the rise and social structure was balanced. Even the downtrodden and have-nots had the hope for the future. Every Pakistani was proud to be Pakistani and the nation did not need a slogan to lift itself. The citizens already had the sense of pride in their nationality. 

It was a miracle that in less than half a decade a defeated nation had become a significant entity in the comity of nations. Pakistan had friends all around the globe from Africa to the far corner of Asia and from Europe to South America. We were regarded a nation which had proved itself. Pakistani manpower was exported in the Middle East and the statesmanship of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had started bearing fruit. 

Then came the darkest day in the history of the country. On July 5, 1977, a military dictator overthrew the government of the first directly elected Prime Minister of Pakistan. General Ziaul Haq, the then Chief of Army stabbed in the back of his benefactor. 
General Zia was a junior General in the Pakistan Army and to make him the Chief several generals were superseded. Nature works in mysterious ways and probably this was nature’s way to show that larger than life Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was after all a human being who made a mistake. This mistake of making General Zia the army chief proved fatal in the months to follow.

Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was changing the geo-political scenario especially in Asia and Africa. He had brought the Third World countries closer. He had formed a very close bond particularly among the downtrodden of Pakistan and now he was on the track to emancipate the Third World countries from the shackles of the Western imperialism and capitalism of the seventies. 

He wanted people everywhere in the world liberated economically, socially and politically. In his struggle he fought every adverse circumstance. He had successfully defeated the usurpers of human rights in his own country and now he wanted to liberate other people who deserved better life and respect than what they had at that time.

His words in the parliament still echo in the ears who had heard them. He had said, “it is not a desi conspiracy, it is an international conspiracy”. His words proved to be true. Just a year ago the then US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had warned to make him a horrible example.

General Zia was a part of that conspiracy. He was the tool with which the international conspirators planned to achieve their goal. General Zia toppled Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s government but had no reason whatsoever to bring him to trial. A concocted murder case was brought against the peoples’ leader and that case is still a black spot on the judicial history of Pakistan.

The conspirators eliminated peoples’ leader physically but they did not know that Bhutto would live forever in the hearts and minds of Pakistani people in particular and democrats all over the world in general. Even after quarter of a century, the politics in Pakistan is either pro-Bhutto or anti-Bhutto. 

It is not surprising that despite massive rigging in the elections by the anti-people forces and the security apparatus in Pakistan, the people of Pakistan have repeatedly reposed their confidence in Pakistan Peoples Party, a party Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto formed in 1967. The romance of Pakistani people with the party and its leadership continues.
General Zia ruled the country for eleven long years with an iron fist but failed to wipe out the party despite lashing hundreds of its workers but he succeeded in defacing the Pakistani society. He sowed the seeds of provincialism, sectarianism and terrorism. Of course the international conspirators supported General Zia in all his efforts because these conspirators never wanted a peaceful Pakistan. 

They knew that this nation, which could rise from the ashes, is a danger for their imperialism. It had done so after the fall of East Pakistan and it can very well do it again. The conspiracy continues. It has not stopped. 

The powers that were active in physical elimination of Bhutto are still active. Now they want to keep Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto out of Pakistani politics but they don’t know that this is impossible. 

No matter how much longer the conspirators try, they will not succeed. They did not succeed in their heinous schemes in the days of General Zia and they will not succeed in their designs in the days of General Musharraf. The conspiracy has to come to a halt and it will.