ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, November 6, 1996 TAG: 9611060069
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
SOURCE: KATHY GANNON ASSOCIATED PRESS
PAKISTAN'S ONE-TIME populist heroine finds herself and her party not just out of power, but demoralized by accusations against her.
Just eight years ago, Benazir Bhutto was a worldwide heroine who had endured jail and exile in her battle against a military dictator. Today, ousted as prime minister for a second time on corruption charges, she is accused of sanctioning death squads and plundering the treasury.
Her husband is under arrest, and her Pakistan People's Party is in shambles.
But Bhutto has proved herself a fighter, using mass protests to regain power when she was ousted the first time.
Even as she sat in her lavish official residence today, under police guard one day after her government was dismissed, people already had started wondering whether she could pull it off again - defy the odds, rally the people and wind up back on top.
But times have changed.
Bhutto, a 43-year-old graduate of Harvard and Oxford, has been weakened by two terms in office rife with corruption and incompetence - and by a sense that she has betrayed great promise. Her nation's desire for reform appears to have deepened.
She rode to power in 1988 on the legacy of her father, a populist leader who inspired Pakistan's poor with promises of ``bread, clothing and shelter.'' She was lauded around the world as a democrat, and as a pioneer as the first woman prime minister of a Muslim state.
But it was not long into her first term that her troubles began.
Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, soon became known as ``Mr. 10 Percent'' - for the commissions he is accused of charging businessmen who wanted him to open doors to investment in Pakistan.
By the time Bhutto was dismissed the first time in 1990, some Pakistanis were even suggesting that the army return to power.
A natural debater and orator, Bhutto thrived in opposition. She railed against the government, organized street protests and threatened to march on the capital, Islamabad.
During her time in opposition, she learned to make deals with enemies, joining hands with President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, the man who had sacked her.
Together they forced the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and paved the way for general elections in 1993 that she won by a narrow margin, returning her to office.
Within two years, her government was bogged down in corruption charges, fighting the judicial system, the president and the International Monetary Fund.
The Pakistan Steel Mill was near bankruptcy because its coffers had been emptied by the new manager appointed by Bhutto's husband. The state-run banks were being milked by politicians who took loans worth millions of rupees they never intended to repay.
Bhutto's brother - and political rival - was killed in a clash with police in Karachi. Some believe Bhutto and her husband were responsible for his slaying, which is under investigation. But even before his death, Bhutto was accused of controlling political and criminal violence in Karachi, the country's financial center, by allowing the police to act as judges and executioners.
Even her supporters were fed up.
In his dismissal order, President Farooq Leghari, a People's Party stalwart who stood by Bhutto in 1990, was harsh in his descriptions of her government's seeming disregard for the law.
Earlier, Leghari called for an independent prosecutor to investigate corruption charges against politicians, bureaucrats and civil servants. Anyone found guilty before a special tribunal would be barred from politics for seven years.
Leghari was expected to establish the tribunal within the next three months - before new elections he set for Feb.3. Bhutto, her husband and several opposition politicians are expected to be among the first to appear before the court.
Some Pakistanis hope the president's move against Bhutto is the start of a push to clean up corruption at the highest level in Pakistan. That could persuade some of the country's well-educated professionals to get involved in politics, an area many have avoided for fear of ruining their reputations.
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. file/1995. Deposed Pakistani Prime Minister Benazirby CNBBhutto has lost her reputation as a populist, accused with her
husband of corruption and backing death squads. Graphic: Chart & map
by AP.