In 1979, the doors of the deepest prison for felons were opened inside Rawalpindi Prison in Pakistan.
Coming out of it was a middle-aged man with slightly gray sideburns, who was the former president of Pakistan, Ali Ali. Bhutto.
Armed with shackles and handcuffs, he limped to the execution site with the help of the prison guards.
The blazing sun shone on Bhutto's scarred body, and he narrowed his eyes, avoiding the sun that had been away for a long time, and the heat made him feel a little uncomfortable.
The atmosphere on the execution ground was unusually oppressive, and Bhutto walked up to the gallows in silence, and the executioner standing next to the gallows put his hand on his left chest and leaned slightly, and then put the rope on his head.
The desperate man, at this moment, closed his eyes peacefully and said, "Allah! Don't blame me, I am a sinless man. ”
The next moment, the planks beneath his feet opened, and the former president was hanged on the gallows.
The executioner looked at his figure hanging in mid-air, his eyes full of compassion. He whispered in Urdu, "May Allah forgive your soul." ”
How did the former president get to this point? Why would he say he was innocent?
Bhutto
A leader who has been betrayed miserably
In 1971, the Third Indo-Pakistani War broke out. In this war, Pakistan was defeated and forced to cede part of its territory.
At this time, Pakistan's domestic situation had completely turned into a mess, and the Pakistani government's nestled approach won widespread discontent among the masses, in which case the newly appointed leader Yahya. Khan had to lay down his power, leave the scene in disgrace, obey the will of the people, and hold a general election to establish a new president.
At this time, Pakistan's internal and external troubles, the presidency is undoubtedly a hot potato, no one has the confidence to take over this position.
At this critical moment of survival, Bhutto, the leader of Pakistan's second largest political party, the People's Party, was unanimously elected by the people and successfully came to power.
Unlike his predecessors, Bhutto's rise to power showed his superb political qualities in his long-term studies. He amended the Constitution to put the people first in the country.
The first thing Bhutto did when he took office was to regain Pakistan's dignity before India, and Bhutto personally traveled to India to meet with Indian Prime Minister Ying. Gandhi.
As the nickname goes, English. Gandhi has always been a prime minister known for his toughness. In foreign policy, she usually adheres to the attitude of not giving in, and everyone knows that Bhutto's trip will inevitably encounter great resistance.
Surprisingly, Bhutto, with his brilliant bargaining skills and humble attitude, successfully won the British. Gandhi's appreciation. Hero. Gandhi made a rare concession and signed the Shimla Agreement with Bhutto, and the contradictions between India and Pakistan during this period were perfectly resolved by both sides.
During Bhutto's time in power, he also worked to reach friendly international relations with China.
Under Bhutto's presidency, China and Pakistan resolved the China-Pakistan border issue that had plagued the two countries for a long time, and Bhutto also visited China and met Chairman Mao, whom he had admired for a long time. Bhutto was also the last foreign leader Chairman Mao received during his lifetime.
During this visit, Chairman Mao promised Bhutto economic assistance to Pakistan, and at the same time, he also told Bhutto about many good strategies on China's development path.
Chairman Mao told Bhutto: "There is no way out for such a country without self-reliance and relying only on others." ”
What Bhutto realized most deeply was Chairman Mao's "land reform."
Chairman Mao and Bhutto
Under the influence of Chairman Mao, Bhutto implemented the land reform policy as soon as he returned to China. Bhutto himself came from an aristocratic background, and he knew that if he wanted to carry out reforms, he had to play a leading role. So Bhutto first distributed his family's 10,000 acres of fertile land to the people, a move that caused a fierce debate in the cabinet at the time.
But Bhutto had already made up his mind, and at a meeting he declared to the people in an unquestioning tone: "The division of my personal land is only the beginning!" In the future, more and more land will be nationalized and distributed to the people! ”
Bhutto's reforms were so drastic that not every aristocratic class had Bhutto's consciousness. Bhutto's reforms offended the interests of many large landowners and bourgeois families. These people entangled in power and raised protests against Bhutto's government.
But Bhutto's solid foundation among the masses of the people made his position very stable. Seeing that normal means of protest did not work, the reactionaries began to create disturbances in various places through their own networks of contacts, with the intention of destroying the lofty image of the Bhutto government in the hearts of the masses.
Bhutto was also aware of the intentions of these people, and he understood that his reforms had offended the interests of too many people. But for the sake of Pakistan's future, he must overcome these obstacles. In order to suppress the unrest, Bhutto even sent an army.
And it was this move that made Bhutto slide into the abyss.
In order to prevent corruption within the army by the enemy, Bhutto promoted a new group of officers and gave them considerable powers to balance the hidden reactionary crisis in the army.
But Bhutto did not observe too closely when he promoted these people, and only on the basis of pure evidence could be appointed.
The cabinet minister had been worried about Bhutto's move, and Bhutto replied: "Doubters do not need to be used, and there is no doubt about the use of people!" ”
One is called Zia. Huck's officers became one of Bhutto's key training targets. With Bhutto's support, his position in the army rose step by step, and he quickly climbed to the position of chief of the general staff, covering the sky almost single-handedly in the army.
Bhutto was very relieved about the people he had chosen, and in his opinion, with a young talent like Haq as his right arm, he must be very successful in both military and political circles, without any threat.
But Bhutto did not expect that the people he had cultivated with his own hands would one day eat himself.
In the early morning of July 5, 1977, Bhutto was awakened by a guard guarding the door. The guard's face was full of panic, and his voice trembled a little: "Prime Minister, your house is surrounded by enemies, and they have launched an army change!" ”
Zia Hack
The first time he heard the news, Bhutto seemed to have been struck by lightning, and his whole body was paralyzed, and he could not imagine that he had made every preparation for everything, and he still could not escape such an ending.
He asked the guard in a weak voice, "The leader of the other side... Who is it? ”
The guard hesitated and replied, "According to the information I have, it is Zia. Chief of the General Staff of Haq. ”
When Bhutto heard this answer, there was a hint of disbelief in his eyes, and then he smiled helplessly, and he sighed and said, "Since he betrayed me, maybe I was destined to do so, I don't like the exile life of hiding around, leave me alone, you go." ”
When Zia. When Haq forcibly breaks into Bhutto's residence, Bhutto is looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully. Seeing Ziahak intruding, he showed a very forced smile.
This ending, he should have expected a long time ago. Because he had witnessed a regime collapse in the same way.
The cycle of fate
In 1953, an airplane landed slowly inside Pakistan.
A young man in a suit and leather shoes, full of vigor, took a steady step and slowly stepped out of the hatch.
He is the young Ali. Bhutto. At that time, he had just returned from further study abroad and gained a very high reputation, and many universities competed for him to teach in schools. But Bhutto resolutely gave up the preferential treatment offered by those schools and institutions, and chose to return to the poor pakistan and make his own contribution to the country.
After returning to China, Bhutto chose to pursue a career as a lawyer and took the opportunity to devote himself to politics, and thanks to his rich family background, Bhutto soon gained a place in Pakistani politics. As a Kochi, he won the support of many young folk talents who aspired to academics, and soon established himself.
This bright rising star in the political arena soon attracted the attention of then-Pakistani President Mirza. Mirza specifically inquired about Bhutto's identity from his subordinates, and learned that Bhutto's family was a well-known aristocratic family in Sindh province, and had once been a chief minister of India. Mirza saw at a glance that Bhutto was a malleable talent.
In 1957, newly independent Pakistan was invited to the Twelfth Session of the United Nations General Assembly. Bhutto was selected as Pakistan's ambassador to the United Nations at the conference. At this meeting, Bhutto, with his elegant conversation and profound knowledge cultivated in the aristocratic family from childhood, played a very positive role in Pakistan's national image, and in one fell swoop made a certain reputation in the international political arena.
As Bhutto's political career progressed smoother, the situation in Pakistan was undercurrents.
During this time, Bhutto's nobleman Mirza's prestige within Pakistan continued to decline due to a series of failed policies, and many people became dissatisfied with him, including Pakistan's army commander, General Ayyub.
But Mirza was completely unaware of this and instead saw Ayyub as his absolutely trusted partner. The power in Ayyub's hands was expanding.
At the end of 1958, Ayyub finally waited for the right moment to use his centralized military power to launch a mutiny, expelling Mirza in one fell swoop and rising to the highest levels of government power.
Bhutto was not ostracized by Ayyub, and he knew that Bhutto was probably one of the most talented and learned people in backward Pakistan at that time, so he still included him in the cabinet he had formed, serving himself when necessary.
It was also during this period that Bhutto was in the Ayyub government's honeymoon period. Bhutto was once the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
But Ayyub, as a soldier, was not very good at governing. He advocated dictatorship and had an almost obsessive desire for power. Ayyub knows how he became president, so he never trusts the people around him and monopolizes power.
Under Ayyub's violent rule, there was a voice of protest among the population.
It is obviously not only the people who are dissatisfied with this, but also Bhutto, who was then the cabinet minister. As an advanced intellectual with higher education in the West, Bhutto was very angry at Ayyub's dictatorship. In order to defend his faith, Bhutto often quarreled with Ayyub.
In the end, the trigger that made Ayyub intolerable to Bhutto was during the Second Indo-Pakistani War.
Ayyub
Ayub accepted the Unanimation and signed the Tashkent Declaration with India on behalf of Pakistan.
This declaration is humiliating in Bhutto's view, and the manifesto is full of benevolence and morality, whitewashing India, which has taken the initiative to invade Pakistan, into a peace-loving country, and there is a huge injustice to Pakistan in its content.
But Ayyub, who had always been tough on the inside, actually chose to submit at this time, which made Bhutto angry. He and Ayyub had a more heated argument than before, after which Ayyub found an excuse to kick Bhutto out of politics.
But Bhutto did not sink, and he used his appeal to form the "People's Party" against the Ayyubid government.
The BJP quickly attracted those who had lost confidence in the Ayyub government because of the huge gap between rich and poor and the regressive economy. Bhutto organized them and carried out several protest marches against the Ayyubid government.
Ayyub was furious at Bhutto's behavior, and he immediately sent someone to arrest Bhutto and throw him in jail.
The house leaked in the rain overnight, the domestic contradictions were not yet resolved, and soon after, the Third Indo-Pakistani War broke out again. Ayyub's selected incompetent heir, Yahya, hastily stepped down. Bhutto obeyed the will of the people and became Pakistan's new leader.
History is like a reincarnation, when Bhutto watched Ayyub launch a military coup and overthrow Mirza. After Bhutto took over, he believed that he had a mass base that Mirza could not match and would not repeat the mistakes of the past, but as if by fate, the Haq he had cultivated with his own hands was still in the form of a military coup and had beaten himself into a situation of no return.
The finale
After being captured by Huck, Bhutto was thrown into prison awaiting trial on charges of treason.
His sideburns had been half white overnight, and in the courtroom, Bhutto had buried his head and curled up, no longer half as graceful as he had been in the United Nations seat, in front of the Iron Lady, and his mental state was extremely poor, and he often fell into a trance, and the judge's question sometimes had to be repeated many times before he could hear it.
This highly qualified student of Oxford Law School, a once-famous lawyer, seemed so pale and powerless in defending himself.
Eventually, Bhutto was sentenced to death by hanging.
Because of Bhutto's early international reputation, the leadership and people of many countries, including China, Britain and France, and the United States, have written to the Pakistani government, hoping to spare Bhutto's death.
But at this time the government leader Zia. Haq had colluded with the aristocratic class in the country and had decided to kill Bhutto and dismiss all claims.
On the morning of the execution, Bhutto was unusually calm. He bathed and changed clothes as usual at home, and recited the scriptures before having his last breakfast.
As he walked out of prison, every time he passed a cell, the prisoners inside whispered, "Lord, forgive those who repent and follow your path, and protect them from hell." "This is the eulogy in the Quran.
On the gallows, Bhutto closed his eyes and said, "Allah! Don't blame me, I am a sinless man. ”
His figure hanging in the air instinctively twitched a few times, and then the execution ground returned to calm.
The executioner whispered in Urdu, "May Allah forgive your soul." ”
The people in the audience looked at this scene and recited the eulogy together. That was their elegy to this great leader.
Ali. Bhutto, whose whole life rose among the masses of the people, was lonely in the betrayal of his cronies. Despite his confidence in Pakistan's future, he was unable to see the arrival of the "new era" he wanted to create.
In the midst of mourning, the great leader's magnificent life came to an end.