Benazir Bhutto’s autobiography starts with the chapter
named ‘The assassination of my father’. In this chapter she narrates her
father’s case, visits to his jail and the deplorable living conditions of the
jail where he was kept. Moving forward Benazir reminisces her childhood and
talks about her family life. She took her O level exams at Vatican embassy in
Pakistan. Later on Benazir went to Harvard University to pursue higher
education. Benazir is of the view that, by studying at Harvard she began to
understand more about Pakistan than she had been while living in Pakistan.
When
her father visited US for attending the UN sessions he would direct Benazir to
be part of those sessions as an observer. In addition to that Benazir remembers
her father telling her: “One of the fundamentals of diplomacy is to create
doubt”. Later when Benazir went to Oxford she also served as the President of Oxford
Union, for three months. Tariq Ali, a leftist had also remained president of
the Oxford Union. In the book Benazir Bhutto presents her father’s case before
the reader and argues that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had made adequate reforms in
Pakistan which were in accordance with Islam. After attending Harvard, Benazir went to Oxford.
At Oxford University, Benazir also owned a personal car. On her return she
intended to join Pakistan’s Foreign Service. When Benazir returned to Pakistan
she had an Urdu tutor and her father would always tell her to improve her Urdu.
In this book frequent mention of Zia-ul-Haq is made by Benazir. Benazir
believes her father was judicially murdered by Zia and his cronies. Zia who had
passed over six generals kept harassing Benazir and her family. She was kept in
Sukkur jail, Karachi Central jail and was numerous times under house arrest. Benazir
at one point in her book also mentions that both she and her mother were
allowed to keep servants in jail.
Adding on to that Benazir was later permitted
by Zia to go abroad on medical grounds. There she travelled between London and
Paris. She continued her political engagements for her party and also got
involved in highlighting the perils of Zia’s rule in Pakistan by engaging with
the western media. When she was in France, her younger brother Shah Nawaz died under
mysterious circumstances. Shah Nawaz used to train guerilla fighters in
Afghanistan and is said to have mentioned Zia’s threat to his life, prior to
this incident. Moreover in the book Benazir unveils about her marriage with Asif
Zardari, who was also from a feudal background. Benazir believes that under US
pressure Zia held the elections of 1985. She further narrates events till the
day of Zia’s plane crash in Bahawalpur. Benazir concludes by hoping to cast her
vote in 1988 elections and believes that one day Pakistan would become a democratic
and progressive country.
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