An insider perpetually branded an outsider
Power Failure is Syeda Abida Hussain’s version of Pakistan’s political history. Her words weave and intricate balance between her own story and that of Pakistan’s political fabric.
From being mesmerised at Florence to grappling the disappointment harboured by Fatima Ali Jinnah, her journey was quite an interesting one. As the reader learns of each step she took forward they also learn of the political history of the country through her eyes.
Abida became a part of this world under the PPP umbrella. As the party rose in ranks, Abida grew into the political scenario as one of the few women to take on a role of importance. During a time when Bhutto was cracking down on Baloch dissent, Abida was one of the few who were trying to put their ears to good use. From NA 69 to the NA 9 Jhang III, and beyond. Abida’s story may well be one of survival in an environment where survival often meant nodding and moving along.
It has to be said that in a heavily misogynist field, she never once let her gender simply let her drop out of the game. Even under threat of violence she raced forward and became the first woman to chair a council in Pakistan when she won N.A. 69 (and went onto do it again a second time). Those that opposed her included her own cousins who could not allow her to win because the “whole of Punjab will think all of us in Jhang wear bangles!” But she managed to come on top nonetheless, and this seems to be the point of no return for her.
In the early parts of her career instead of us reading pages upon pages of the work she did under the PPP the reader instead finds narration of the political events as Abida saw them happen. It’s surprisingly that her hairdo comes into discussion more often than her work does during the first few chapters
A disappointing part of reading Abida’s journey is how often she seems to almost lose perspective. On one hand she writes of her son, her third child, and how her dead father finally had a rightful heir. And in the same breathe a few paragraphs later the reader finds her complaining about Bhutto’s biased decision to bar her from the NA 69 seat because she was a woman — her replacement was neither qualified nor old enough to take up the position. While she went with the traditional definition of an heir being a son, she was humiliated when Bhutto did the traditional thing and pass her over for a man.
In the early parts of her career instead of us reading pages upon pages of the work she did under the PPP the reader instead finds narration of the political events as Abida saw them happen. It’s surprisingly that her hairdo comes into discussion more often than her work does during the first few chapters. So when she insists that she had been wronged by Bhutto when he picked another man one is left wondering what work she had done precisely to deserve the position apart from the goodwill left behind by her influential father’s legacy. She confirms this later when she writes, “I entered NA 69 speaking about the manifestos of the PPP and NDP being similar, focusing on the rights of the people. My constituents did not seem to be interested in any political party. They only recognised me as the daughter of Abid Hussain Shah. Some called him Makhdum Abid Hussain Bokhari, some referred to him as Pir Abid Hussain Shah, while majority of them simply called him Colonel Sahib.”
Her journey certainly did add to the courage she brought to her game. It must also be pointed out that her tendency to question the status quo is one of the most dominant themes throughout the narrative. That is verily the reason she was thought to be an anti-army rebel during Zia’s rule. Over the course of her time as a politician it seems as though she goes from someone who is a naive observer to someone who knows how to put their ‘survival instinct’ to good use.
Her journey certainly did add to the courage she brought to her game. It must also be pointed out that her tendency to question the status quo is one of the most dominant themes throughout the narrative. That is verily the reason she was thought to be an anti-army rebel during Zia’s rule
That is precisely why it isn’t as bizarre to the reader that she voices her unending admiration and support for Bhutto who she routinely describe as a man full of hubris and one who makes enemies easily, throughout the book. When the tide turned on Bhutto, the tide also seemed to turn on Abida’s support for him. She refers to this as her ‘survival instinct’. The very same survival instinct can be said to be the reason she hopped from PPP to serve in as a UN delegate under Zia. She then moved on to serving under Nawaz before once again eventually joined the PPP again. Abida even ran under Musharraf’s ticket during 2002.
Abida’s standpoint is unique. It is of an insider who seems to perpetually get branded an outsider. While walking the reader through the various blunders Pakistani leaders and dictators continuously made, something she wrote at the very beginning keeps coming back into perspective. “Father was a common-sense person who spoke with clarity and conviction and it was hard to disagree with him,” she wrote, “‘Young Pakistanis must never forget that Pakistan was created for economic reasons,’” she added. And it seems this was a lesson that may have been lost on the average Pakistani, but it was one that the countries leaders never forgot.
One after the other, Pakistan’s history is laden with men who craved power above all else, and often made decisions that served their own interests rather than those of the nation. “Ayub Khan had legitimised corruption by making his own family rich. Bhutto was born rich, but looked the other way when officers sought to become rich who were ‘useful’ to him,” she wrote at one point. At a later part she talks about the current prime minister and how his emphasis lay more on his business rather than his political duties.
The politicians words also seem to mark a clear pattern. “Autocratic rulers challenged by democratic governments,” she writes, and that has been the crux of Pakistan’s political fabric since its inception. Overall, the book is fast paced and is a fascinating read. Her anecdotal account of politics as it happened in Pakistan, coupled with her personal struggle in a predominantly male domain, makes for a gripping narrative.
Power Failure: The Political Odyssey of a Pakistani Woman
Written by: Syeda Abida Hussain
Published by: Oxford University Press
Pages: 720; Price: Rs2,195 Hardback