A hollow clamour

While Mr Mumtaz Bhutto’s grievance about the provinces, particularly his own, being deprived of their rights is not new, he needs himself to decide who has actually been responsible for this state of affairs. If he were to give the matter a moment’s thought, he would come to the conclusion that leaders from Sindh, who had in the past occupied the highest seat of power at the Centre and those who are at present ruling the country, could not be absolved from the blame. They had ample time to devolve to the provinces the subjects which, under the Constitution, fell to their charge, and address their other complaints. Mr Mumtaz Bhutto himself had been a highly influential leader, has held the top position in the Sindh province and was known as the right hand man of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. In fact, the late leader would call him his “talented cousin”. Both Z. A. Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto had been undisputed and persuasive rulers of Pakistan, the former in particular who also had the distinction of bringing round the various political parties holding differing viewpoints about the nature and content of the country’s Constitution that was unanimously passed during his tenure of governance in 1973. Similarly, the PPP, under President Zardari, has been leading the ruling coalition for the past three years. Even the Chairman Senate and Speaker National Assembly are from Sindh. Mr Mumtaz Bhutto admits that Mr Zardari interferes in every conceivable matter that should be left to the provinces to handle under the Constitution. If, in his opinion, Sindh or, for that matter, any other province is being discriminated against, he should be pointing a finger at these influential leaders from his province and, indeed – Nation