Pakistanis Feel ‘Relief’ Over Zia’s Death but Are Uncertain on Future, Bhutto Says

The death of President Zia ul-Haq has brought the Pakistani people a sense of relief, opposition leader Benazir Bhutto declared Friday.

But “there’s also an element of uncertainty as to what will happen next,” Bhutto told reporters at her home.

She said Pakistanis are “waiting for the dust to settle” after today’s state funeral in the capital of Islamabad for Zia, who was killed along with 29 others, including U.S. Ambassador Arnold L. Raphel, when his military transport plane crashed Wednesday. Bhutto will not attend the rites for her longtime political enemy.

‘Basic Reaction’

“I think the basic reaction has been relief that the Zia era is over,” Bhutto said.

Zia, an army general, overthrew the elected government of her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in 1977, then ordered him executed two years later.

Asked whether the struggle between Zia, 64, and the Bhutto family represented a political blood feud, the 35-year-old, Western-educated leader of the Pakistan People’s Party replied:

“At one level it is true, to the extent that the politics of Pakistan was seen very much in the light of the Zia-Bhutto confrontation, with Gen. Zia on the one side and the Bhuttos, representing the political-civilian forces, on the other.”

“That aspect of the situation was always there,” she added. “But the other aspect, the more important dimension, is that (her father’s) Pakistan People’s Party came into being before Zia arrived on the scene, and I think the PPP will continue as a force long after Zia is gone.”

The party banner, initially picked up by Benazir Bhutto’s mother after her father’s execution, has now fallen to Benazir, a shrewd yet charming politician with fashion-model features and short, dark hair. She met with a handful of foreign reporters Friday night in a drawing room of the Bhutto family.

‘Maintain Normalcy’

Speaking in a British accent--the product of her years in England, where she studied at Oxford after completing her undergraduate degree at Harvard University--Bhutto said she had met throughout the day with members of her party and leaders of other opposition groups. In these meetings, she said, she counseled them to “maintain normalcy at all cost” throughout the weekend of mourning for Zia.

“Some people are not too happy with this course,” she disclosed. “But we feel this is a most delicate time in our country’s history. At such a time, everyone should display restraint.”

Asked specifically if she believes that any provocative statements by the opposition might invite martial law, which Zia had imposed for eight of his 11 years in power, Bhutto replied: “I think it’s a 50-50 question, really.”

But she said her party supports the action so far by the new government of President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, noting that even with the declaration of a national state of emergency “the initial response has been a constitutional response.”

‘Mutilated’ Judiciary

Still, Bhutto warned, the country faces a vacuum of power. Zia, she charged, “severely mutilated” the judiciary. He also dismissed the Parliament and prime minister last May--and the military, she pointed out, is the only national institution left untouched.

She declined to speculate on the cause of the air disaster that killed Zia, Raphel, U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Herbert M. Wassom and 10 Pakistani generals. Pressed on the question, she said her party’s leaders believe that the C-130 transport plane either was struck by a missile or suffered a “technical failure.”

However, Bhutto labeled as “dangerous and provocative” charges that sabotage was the cause.

“A military plane taking off from a military base. . . . Really, you know how strict military security is,” she remarked, leaving unsaid the implication that the sabotage theory could be supported only by assuming that the saboteur was a military man.

‘Let’s Not Speculate’

“Let the investigation take place,” she said. “Let’s not speculate.”

Bhutto was eager to talk about the coming national parliamentary elections, which Zia had set for Nov. 16. The Pakistan People’s Party is the strongest opposition party, and Bhutto noted that Zia died before he could introduce a law that would have banned party identifications on the ballot.

“The law says elections should be party-based,” she insisted, in anticipation of her party’s candidates being listed on the ballots next to the party symbol--a farmer and his ox-drawn plow. Symbol identification is important in a country with a high degree of illiteracy.

“I’m hoping to be able to do what I can” during the campaign, said the party leader, who is six months pregnant.

She conceded that she skipped some recent party rallies on her doctor’s advice--and the party missed her drawing power--but said she will be physically able to actively campaign next month for party candidates, assuming that the election goes ahead on a partisan basis. Her mother will return from Europe next month to help campaign, she said.

On her own return to Pakistan in 1986, Benazir Bhutto drew wildly enthusiastic crowds in the hundreds of thousands at rallies nationwide, stamping herself as a major political threat to Zia. But on the rally trail last year, the crowds decreased and the unity of the opposition movement was shaken. With Zia’s death, the picture has changed again.

‘It’s Much Easier Now’

“For me it’s much easier now,” Bhutto said Friday night, “because when we opposed Zia’s dictatorship many people thought, well, you have personal anger, and maybe it’s for personal motivation like revenge. And I would keep saying, ‘No, it’s not--we have something much more to offer.’ ”

In conclusion, she declared: “Pakistan has two courses right now: It has the course of military rule, and it has the course of civilian rule.”

Her choice is obvious. “We’ve suffered too much because no respect was paid to the law . . . too much,” she remarked. “. . . One could never have a free and fair election under Gen. Zia.”