LAHORE: Bushra Bibi is the third former First Lady after Begum Nusrat Bhutto and Begum Kulsoom Nawaz to lead the movement for the release of her husband who is in custody like the other two former prime ministers.
However, the most perplexing question in the minds of the people witnessing history is whether Bushra Bibi will be able to match the struggle of the two former first ladies of Pakistan, one of whom could not save her husband from execution. In 1979, the other successfully got her husband out of custody through an amnesty deal in 2000. The last two came from the former First Lady and Imran Khan’s wife, which also raised several questions about the future of the Bushra Bibi-led movement.
Bushra Bibi, the ex-wife of Khawar Manika, a bureaucrat, married Imran Khan, the founding chairman of PTI, immediately after her divorce with Khawar Manika in 2018. In the same year, Imran Khan also became the Prime Minister after a long struggle of 22 years. K’s party and allies formed the government. In Centre, Punjab, KP and Balochistan. In 2022, Imran Khan lost the prime ministership due to a no-confidence motion and around the same time, his terms with the country’s establishment, which had been quite cordial since 2011, were severed. After dissolving his own government in Punjab suppressing his ally Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, the real test of the then Chief Minister Imran Khan began. The infamous incident related to the attack on the Corps Commander’s House in the month of May in 2023 followed Imran’s arrest on May 9 and things started to get serious for him and the PTI. In later periods, both Imran and Bushra faced punishment at the hands of the court in cases like Tosha Khana and Nikah in Idda.
However, Bushra Bibi got bail in 2024 and was able to see party affairs. After his release, the first protest or movement under his leadership is the recent November 24 PTI call, which also criticized the party leadership in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The workers are fighting against the state institutions on the streets. In this movement, firing was done by Bushra Bibi, KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, top party officials like Umar Ayub Khan, Salman Akram Raja and other PTI in-charges belonging to KP. Engaged in clashes with security personnel at D Chowk. Islamabad. Simply put, the objective behind the movement or the call was not achieved which made the PTI workers confined to the container and enjoying the state protocol of the KP government like Bushra Bibi, Ali Amin Gandapur and the party. against the senior leaders of
Interestingly, Imran Khan’s own sister was among the PTI activists when Bushra Bibi was on the container. It is worth noting that at a time when Bushra Bibi is leading the movement, PTI has absolute power in one province of Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In KP, the former first lady seems to enjoy full protocol and security which was not the case with Begum Nusrat Bhutto or even Begum Kulsoom Nawaz when her husbands were under the custody of General Ziaul Haq and General Pervez Musharraf respectively. After the imposition of martial law on 5 July 1977, all five elected governments, including one at the center and four provincial governments, were dismissed. The founder and first elected Prime Minister of the People’s Party was arrested in the coming days and while she spent her last 323 days in prison since April 1979, the People’s Party was led by Begum Nusrat Bhutto who along with her daughter Benazir Bhutto. Kar mobilized the party and struggled. Against the powerful government
After the 4th April 1979 incident when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged, Begum Nusrat Bhutto led the PPP continuously until the 1984 and later 1988 general elections, leading the party during this period. Violence was faced. The disloyalty of the police, at the hands of a few ex-members of the party who supported the PPP and the most tragic news related to the death of his son Shahnawaz when the elder son Murtaza was in exile. Tragically, Nusrat Bhutto’s three children, including her two sons and eldest daughter Benazir, died in her lifetime. Shahnawaz Bhutto died abroad when Begum Bhutto was leading the PPP during the dictatorial regime.
During the 11 years from 1977 to 1988, Nusrat Bhutto did not receive any state protocol during any movement to restore democracy.
Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, another former first lady of Pakistan, unexpectedly had to lead her party after the October 12, 1999 incident when the current army chief General Pervez Musharraf took over. The then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his brother, the then Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, were arrested after the October 12, 1999 coup. A few months later, Nawaz Sharif was sentenced to 21 years in prison by the court and it was Begum Kulsoom who started the movement to save the PMLN from breaking up, which was quickly replaced by the PMLQ.
Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Pervaiz Rasheed, Mushahidullah Khan, Zaeem Qadri, Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khan Khosa were among the important personalities who supported the party at that time.
Kulsoom Nawaz and PMLN workers also clashed with the then administration on the streets and an incident in which Begum Kulsoom locked her car for hours while clashing with the police was also witnessed. By the last quarter of the year 2000, due to Saudi Arabia’s lobbying, Nawaz Sharif along with his family left for Jeddah making an agreement with Pervez Musharraf. During the period when Kulsoom Nawaz led the party and the movement for the release of Nawaz Sharif, there was no PMLN government in any province of the country and the party was in direct conflict with the government led by Pervez Musharraf. Mass arrests of PMLN workers also continued. is ongoing
It is also noteworthy that Begum Nusrat Bhutto and Begum Kulsoom Nawaz were never punished by the court during their struggle and interestingly, as former first ladies, they were not even charged with corruption.