Anti-Benazir graffiti appears on her father's grave
Washington, Oct 13: The tomb of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, at Naodero in Sindh is in a state of disrepair - its marble floors chipped and its peeling walls sprayed with anti-Benazir graffiti, Time magazine has reported.
The report quotes Mumtaz Ali Bhutto, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's first cousin and close friend and one of Benazir's critics, as saying, "She has disgraced the Bhutto name."
He said her self-imposed exile in London and Dubai was an attempt to escape her sins, and added that the stigma will stay forever.
The tomb's custodian, Muhammad Issa, told a Time reporter, "We will whitewash the walls before she returns."
Commenting on Musharraf's win, the report notes that Musharraf's landslide victory was largely due to Bhutto's party members following her directive to abstain from voting.
According to Time, "That gave the General, who came to power in 1999 in a bloodless coup and still holds the title of Army Chief, the legitimacy he craves as head of state. With the Supreme Court scheduled to decide on October 17 whether Musharraf could run for office while serving in the military, critics fear martial law could follow if he is declared ineligible."
The report notes that Benazir Bhutto's supporters seem willing to overlook the fact that human rights abuses and widespread corruption tainted her previous stints in power.
During her tenure, Amnesty International accused Pakistan of having one of the worst records of extra-judicial killings, torture and custodial deaths, and in 1996, Transparency International named the country the second most corrupt in the world, the report adds.
The people of Sindh still have faith in their leader and are ready to vote for Benazir in the next parliamentary elections.
A Larkana shopkeeper, Muhammad Ali Sheikh, told Time, "If Benazir got a horse and told people to vote for the horse, we would line up to vote for the horse."
Even Mumtaz Ali Bhutto, adds the report, says that he plans to vote for her in the parliamentary elections.
"Strategists, however, are sceptical as to whether she can pull off a comeback. Millions cheered her return to Pakistan in 1986, after nearly a decade of martial rule. Party leaders say that this time they will be happy if 200,000 people show up to guide her way to Larkana, where she will once again try to pick up her father's mantle."
