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A w a k  e ni  n g t  h  e P  e  o pl   e 
 
Awakening thePeople
A collection of articles, statements and speeches
 1966 – 1969By
ZULFIKAR ALI BHUTTO
Reproduced bySani PanhwarMember Sindh Council PPP
 
Awakening The People; Copyright © 2006www.bhutto.org 2
INTRODUCTION
When Zulfikar Ali Bhutto left the Government, milling crowds turned out toreceive him at Lahore and Karachi. It was an amazing spectacle. With hisdeparture, the people's last hope of the Government vindicating national honor,seemed to have vanished. Bhutto had become a symbol of the nation's urge toregain the pride which Ayub had frittered away at Tashkent in an unequal treaty.The disillusionment of the people who had stood in brave and magnificentdefiance of a much stronger enemy only months before, was suddenly completewith Bhutto's exit from a Government which no longer represented the nationalwill, nor seemed to have the strength or ability to defend Pakistan's territorialintegrity and ideological identity.For Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, it was the beginning of a long and arduous strugglewhich would ultimately lead to the overthrow of a blind and isolated dictator whohad imposed his arbitrary will upon the will of the people against all democraticnorms and in violation of the national interest. The people of Pakistan, nowleaderless and bitter with humiliation, looked for support and guidance. OnlyBhutto could give it. History had chosen him for a unique role. He was to fulfil thatrole against heavy odds. Everything was against him: the brute authority of arepressive Government, the industrial oligarchy, the landed aristocracy and thecolonial-style bureaucracy. But he had the people with him. This he knew andthis is what gave him strength.It was not to be an easy road. Many have wondered why Bhuttosucceeded in spearheading successfully the movement against Ayub, while theolder and more experienced politicians failed. He succeeded because, unlikethem, he could understand the poetry and the music of the people's struggle. Hesucceeded because he did not confine himself to the plush comfort of his
 
Awakening The People; Copyright © 2006www.bhutto.org 3
drawing room, merely content with issuing high-sounding statements to thepress. He came out, into the open, into the streets. He seized the time. He seizedthe moment. The people were ready for revolution. He led them into thatrevolution. He was sensitive to the people and he spoke their idiom. Hearticulated their aspirations. He showed them the light at the end of the tunnel.He saw the rainbow in the sky and the stars in the firmament. This was Bhutto’smagic. This was Bhutto's charisma. This was Bhutto's appeal. That is why hesucceeded where others failed.Zulfikar Ali Bhutto knew that what the people of Pakistan needed was anew party, a party with a programme, a party with a manifesto, a party with truthin its heart and defiance in its spirit, a party of revolution and change. Too longthe people had been betrayed; too long they had suffered in silence: too longthey had been told to respect the abominable status quo. The day of the commonman had at last arrived and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had been the first to see thesplendid signs of this new and beautiful dawn where others only saw inkydarkness.The Pakistan People's Party was formed at a convention attended bypeople whom nobody knew in the isolated corridors of power. The establishmentpress made fun of the new party. One of Ayub's Governors ridiculed Bhutto foraddressing gatherings at which nobody came except tongawalas, rickshawdrivers, ordinary workmen and landless peasants. Little did he or his masterknow that these simple people the salt of the earth, would soon shatter theseemingly impregnable citadel of power whose inhabitants had lost all touch withthe masses, all contact with reality.Bhutto then started to go round the country. He went to small villages,where nobody had gone before. He went to sleepy little towns which had neverfigured in any Minister's tour itinerary. He went to the slums of the great big citiesthat the self-proclaimed leaders had never gone to. He went to the students, the
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