Remembering Pinky

Goodbye Pinky

Rafi Aamer

Dec 28, 2007

Young, idealistic and frustrated of the oppressive atmosphere, I was baptized into the movement for the democracy in Pakistan at a very young age—at an age when my friends had entirely different priorities. The only thought that kept me going in the face of the baton-charges and tear gas on The Mall in Lahore was, "life without rights is not worth living."

Then came the day of April 10, 1986 when Benazir Bhutto, her father's `Pinky', came back to Pakistan after her exile. She chose my city, Lahore , to arrive and begin her struggle for democracy. I was so elated by the news that I decided to skip my Mathematics exam which was scheduled on the same day. That would have wasted some months of my academic year but I didn't care. I wanted to become a part of the history.

On April 10, 1986, from about 7:00 am to the midnight, I was part of millions of the people who had poured into the city from all over the country following the truck Benazir was on. Every face around me had a smile on it and every pair of eyes was lit with hope. Hope—something many of us were experiencing for the first time. All eyes were fixed on this sparrow of a girl waving to the crowd.

When we arrived at Manto Park , Lahore , this sparrow of a girl roared behind the mike like a lioness. My friend, standing next to me, asked me if that roar was really coming out of a girl who probably weighed just 100 pounds. I told my friend that when millions of voices merge into one, that's how thunderous that one voice becomes. When Benazir thundered, "General Zia, look at this crowd. If we wanted, we could forcibly occupy the governor house in Lahore today but we did not. We are giving you a chance to exit gracefully or we will throw you out", it felt like every wound inflicted by police batons and torture had healed instantly.

During the elections of 1988, despite the fact that I was underage to vote myself, I actively participated in the election campaign for Pakistan People's Party (PPP). I lived in a constituency where PPP's candidate had no hope of winning the seat but I and all my fellow PPP workers decided that we had to put everything we'd got in this campaign and we might swing it the other way. I remember that I used to spend almost 12 hours every day campaigning and I spent all day of the Election Day driving a minivan transporting voters to the polling stations and back to their homes. When the returns came in, the PPP candidate had won by a very narrow margin. I still remember the jubilation we felt.

I remember when I saw Benazir take the oath as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for the first time. I was looking at the images on the TV screen and I had tears in my eyes. That remains one of the happiest, proudest and most profound moments of my life. It was like I was being sworn in as the Prime Minister.

After becoming PM, Benazir did a whirlwind tour of Pakistan thanking her voters. Sometime in 1989, she visited Punjab Secretariat of PPP in Lahore . I was there too but since I was a nobody in the party, I was assigned the all important task of looking after the snacks that were to be served with the tea to the bigwigs of the Party. Someone, for some reason, told Benazir that the impossible win in my constituency was made possible due to some very spirited young workers and one of them, me, was around. Benazir asked to see me and our local head of the Party came out to fetch me. When I entered the room, Benazir looked at me and said, "Tariq sahib was telling me that you worked really hard during the campaign. I thank you. Is there something I can do for you?" I replied, "Yes Ma'm. We have worked hard for democracy under the banner of PPP. What I would like to request you is to have a democratic culture within the folds of the Party as well. The office bearers of the Party should be elected and not selected." Benazir paused and then said, "Off course, in due time we will do that. That tells me that you are quite sincere with the Party."

She turned out to be wrong on that account. I was not as sincere with the Party as I was to the democratic principles. When she conspired with the Army and the establishment for the dismissal of Nawaz Sharif government in 1993, I got disillusioned with her leadership and left PPP for good.


All these memories came rushing back to me this morning when I heard that Benazir Bhutto was killed in Rawalpindi .

Goodbye Pinky, and thanks for the memories.