What’s in a name?

Benazir Bhutto. Even death didn't do you apart.

So after all the years of glorifying her, and pretending she’s the cure to all our ills, this is where we end up. We start naming everything that God has bestowed us with, after her name. We name a city after her. We name an airport after her. We name countless roads after her. We even name a welfare scheme after her. We name an income support program after her. We name the PIA housing society after her. We set up an award and name it after her. We even named the park, where she was murdered, after her. The President decides to display her picture to all at the UN, probably hoping they’ll name the UN General Assembly Hall after her. Then we realize we’ve run out of things to name after her, so we decide to build a monument for her. For all those thick headed douche bags who still don’t know who I’m talking about, look at the picture above. It is Benazir Bhutto.

Now why would our silly, little, frat government name everything after Benazir Bhutto? Because it’s stupid? Hmm, I wish they had stopped at stupid. But no, the government really thinks that by using BB’s name and face over and over again, they can somehow minimize the public relations disaster that their newest hotshots namely Fauzia Wahab, Firdaus Ashiq Awan, and Babar Awan (God, it kills me to know I’m also an Awan; in my defence, I have never come across such imbecile Awans before) have created for them. What these idiotic buffoons have clearly failed to realize is that by using Benazir’s face and name in their dubious campaigns, they have sullied BB’s name and caused it considerable flak.

And just for how long will they cash in on BB’s portrait and the Bhutto name? As far as I remember, the PPP calls itself a democratic party. So naturally, it should have personnel available to take over its reigns if the Bhutto clan is unable to lead it. In fact, why even treat the PPP like a hereditary party? Who gave BB the right to hand over the PPP to Asif Zardari like a family heirloom? Wasn’t that possibly the biggest undemocratic step that BB took in her entire life?

When Zardari sets up BB’s portrait in front of the UN, he isn’t doing himself or his country any good. By showing the world that we are dependent on icons and legends, we are belittling ourselves, and denying ourselves the ability to search for the talent that will lead us in shaping a new future. The people do not want to see BB’s name everywhere, or see her portraits. They want solid results for the sufferings that they endure day in and day out due to the abhorrent policies of the current PPP regime; and when the relief isn’t forthcoming it is BB’s name that gets sullied. In my humble opinion, it would be better to leave her alone. It would be kinder to let her rest in death. The PPP behaves like a twenty year old grown up man who refuses to let go of a toy he got when he was two years old every time it decides to rename everything after Benazir Bhutto. The trouble is, what they rename after her never brings any relief to the masses.

The PPP needs to grow up and leave their slain leader alone. It needs to come up with new policies and solutions to problems without resorting to use Benazir Bhutto in every sentence. There are great political actors active within the PPP. It is time to give them a chance and for us to acknowledge their ideas and views. It is time for us to realize that Benazir Bhutto is dead, and that she will not be coming back to take charge of her army of supporters. And if that is so hard, and the PPP still feels like naming things after her, then I suggest they capture her murderers (which they still haven’t managed to do, or don’t want to apparently), and put them before a court and call it Benazir Bhutto’s revenge trial. Yeah, that’ll be the fittest title of them all.