Memories of Benazir Bhutto

[MasoodBazmi]

Memories of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto (Part-I)

Benazir wrote in her autobiography, "The Daughter of the East",
"Ziaul Haq, my father's supposedly loyal Army Chief-of-Staff, and the General who had sent his soldiers in the middle of the night to overthrow my father and take over the country by force. Ziaul Haq, the military dictator who had subsequently ailed to crush my father's following in spite of all his guns and tear-gas and martial law regulations, who had failed to break my father's spirit despite his isolation in a death cell. Ziaul Haq, the General who would rule Pakistan for the next nine years."
(Page 4).

On page 271, Benazir wrote before coming to Pakistan from exile in London,
"The timing seemed right. With Zia's much vaunted lifting of martial law, we could force the regime's hand and put their claims of renewed freedom to the test. If Zia arrested me upon my return, the force of democracy would be wide open."

Benazir Bhutto wrote on the beginning of the new year, nineteen eighty seven,
"I always feel that a new year will be better than the last year, and there were many optimistic signs. I was free in Pakistan for the first time in six years." (page 296)

Benazir Bhutto issued a press statement on the occasion of her marriage ceremony on July 26, 1987, which was widely published in the next day's newspapers, was
"A woman can aim for and attain all: a satisfying professional life, a satisfying marriage, and the satisfaction of children."

She had to issue also another press statement on the occasion of her Valima (Wedding) feats, because o f the conflict arose in national and international media that her husband would interfere in her political career, she said,
"Today on an occasion so personal and solemn for me, I want to reaffirm my public pledge to the people of Pakistan, and restate my most solemn vow to devote my life towards the welfare of each citizen and the freedom of this great nation or our from dictatorship."

On the death of Ziaul Haq, Benazir Bhutto said,
"Zia would be remembered as the man who, after eleven years of repressive rule, left behind nothing but debts, hunger and unemployment, exploitation and discrimination, drugs and corruption."

Benazir Bhutto concluding her autobiography said,
"Just as a flower cannot bloom in a desert, so political parties cannot flourish in a dictatorship. That the political parties have managed to survive and flourish despite the draconian measures taken against them is a tribute to those who gave their lives for democracy… we are the conscience of the country, the future and the hope. Our day, I know, will come." (Page 322)