Benazir Bhutto, November 25, 1996

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"How realities change. Nothing remains the same; everything has to change. One is neither prime minister nor political prisoner forever ... one is neither great nor weak forever."

Those words were spoken to me by my father — before he was forced from power in a military coup, before he was executed. But those words still ring true today.

Only when a people, a group or a leader acknowledges that nothing lasts forever can one respond to the challenge of change.

As most of the world probably knows, the latest challenge I face comes in the form of a coup led by a former friend and ally, President Farooq Leghari. And now, my country is under a presidential, civilian equivalent of martial law.

My father died for this country and for parliamentary democracy ... our workers were hanged for parliamentary democracy. I get very emotional just thinking about the sacrifices we've made.

When Leghari was elected, he pledged that he wouldn't use his political power to dismiss the assembly before its five-year term was complete.

Perhaps the recent events in my country are an indication of a larger trend. Maybe it's a result of the decline of ideology following the end of the Cold War — casting its shadow on the internal politics of nations around the globe.

Now that the world is no longer divided into two camps of black and white, the people at large are finding it more difficult to distinguish between political parties, political leaders and political programs.

Everyone talks of deregulation, liberalization and privatization.

Everyone talks of combating crime and terrorism, and promoting human rights. So, how can people tell the difference between one set of leaders and another? I think it's this lack of ideological clarity that has led to confusion, and those who are greedy for power use this to their advantage.

With issues undefined and hard to understand, politics becomes more personalized, with accusations and smears becoming the easiest way to define one's opponents.

The media thrive on scandals, and trial by press has become the order of the day. True or not, much of the mud sticks and the result is cynicism toward government and political leaders — which leads to disenchantment with existing political structures and systems.

If there can be a solution to this problem, it lies in the creation of new yardsticks by which to judge political parties and leaders, standards such as how they handle the economy, how much they invest in human resource development, and whether they promote women's rights and minority rights.

This is what the debate in my country should be about. Unfortunately, we have sunk to new lows of character assassination and constitutional upheaval. And while I'm confident we will win in the end, it is frustrating to waste so much time and energy when we could be working to improve our people's future.

And so, I wait as our Supreme Court considers my revised petition to reinstate the legitimate government to power. Such an action is not without precedent, since in 1993, the court overruled the firing of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. If the assembly dissolution in that case was wrong ... well, the charges against me are even flimsier and the assembly will be returned to power soon.

As I try to explain to my children what has happened to our family in the past few weeks, more of my father's words and lessons come to mind:

It is because realities change that one should act so as to seek redemption in the eyes of history rather than the transitory phase that one lives through.

That's why principles are important. It's because principles, whether popular or not, mean fighting for something larger than one's own self. They give a moral basis to the pursuit of life and make our time on earth more meaningful, more satisfactory.

COPYRIGHT 1996 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.