book review

This is my latest book review



Objective Political Biography of Benazir [4-3-09]

In the murky politics of Pakistan anything is possible and that includes daylight murder of its important leader. Ms. Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in 2008 when she had come back to Pakistan after a long spell of political exile. It was quite clear that she was inching towards political power and some forces were not ready to let this happen. Instead of taking her on politically, they decided to use gun and silence her. And yet she left behind an enduring legacy. This is what Shyam Bhatia claims in his political biography of Benazir ‘Goodbye Shahzadi’, published by Roli Books, Delhi.

Shyam Bhatia is eminently qualified to write such biography as he knew her from her Oxford days. They were together in UK. They knew each other for over 34 years. As the blurb mentions, ‘over the years Bhatia recorded a series of interviews with Benazir in which she talked with amazing frankness about her life, her family, her ambitions and her plans.’ And all this shows in the book.

As per the prevalent tradition in the political families of South Asia, Benazir moved into politics while Bhatia took to journalism. This also helped them to keep in touch with each other. Their last contact was in October 2007 at a press conference in London where she had announced her decision to go back to Pakistan. The rest is too recent to be recalled.

Bhatia has traced the family background of the Bhuttos in the chapter ‘Her Father’s daughter’. Benazir’s grand father, Sir Shahnawaz was born in 1888. He was politically active from early age. [p12]. He was invited to participate in the London Round Table Conferences on India between 1930 and 1933. Benazir’s father Zulfikar [born in 1928] was appointed a member of Pakistan’s delegation to the United Nations when he was just 29 years old. Benazir was born on 21 June 1953, went to the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Murree and then on to Oxford from where she graduated in 1974. Three years later in July 1977, her father was arrested and was hanged in April 1979. His widow Nusrat was too ill to assume the leadership of Pakistan People’s Party [PPP]. The mantle fell on Benazir. What a bloody and dramatic way to join politics! Bhatia has properly caught the inherent drama.

General Zia lifted the marshal law on 30th December 1985 and political activities once again began in Pakistan. Zia dissolved the Parliament in May 1988 and called for elections in November 1988. However he was unexpectedly killed in a plane crash in August 1988. In the elections Benazir’s PPP came on the top and on 2nd December 1988 she was sworn in as Pakistan’s Prime Minister [p 22]. In between Bhatia also writes about her marriage. Hers was an arranged marriage, rather unusual for Benazir-type of girl. When quizzed about her decision she famously commented,’ Really, how is it any different from using a compute dating services?’ [p 29]. She tied the knot with Asif Ali Zardari, a fellow sindhi. Bhatia objectively notes, ‘It was another way of saying that marriage was a political necessity and an arranged marriage was the price she would have to pay if she was aiming for high office in such a conservative country.’

Having offered such necessary details about Benazir, Bhatia then settles down to narrate the inside story of Benazir’s political life. He shows that Benazir was the real mother of missile programme of Pakistan. She came into office for the second time in 1993. While on a visit to North Korea, she personally carried some CDs having invaluable data on uranium enrichment [p 41]. In the next pages, Bhatia shows how her friendship with Peter Galbraith came handy for lobbying in US. Peter was son of John Kenneth Galbraith, US ambassador to India. When she was behind bars after her father was hanged, it was Peter who was effectively campaigned in US for her release [p 46]. As Bhatia notes,’ Galbraith was one of the eight close family friends or relatives who were gathered in the Bhutto’s Larkana family home on election night in 1988’.

About India policy, though Bhatia does not say so, Benazir was as bad as they come. She had once said,’ it should be clear that Pakistan never forgot the humiliating loss of Bangladesh at the hands of India… Zia did one right thing. He started the whole policy of proxy war by supporting the separatist movements in Punjab and Kashmir as a way of getting back at India’ [p 62]. During her first inning as Prime Minister she had realized how the nuclear establishment in Pakistan had a solid backing of Pakistan army. The Army general cold shouldered her when she asked for briefing on nuclear issues. Bhatia notes that Benazir aroused hostility among many of the generals who ran the Pakistan army [p 81]. Twice she came to power and twice she was sacked. And in both the cases, Army was the mastermind behind these moves. This however does not mean that she was a saintly figure. In fact she was the one who supported the Taliban. Though she was tried to blame Army for this, she cannot escape blame for the creation of a monster called Taliban which is now troubling her husband.

Bhatia has also noted the fights within the Bhutto clan. In later years there was no love lost between Benazir and her brothers who were not accepted as heir of Bhutto legacy. This was hardly surprising given the feudal nature of Pakistani society. And yet Bhatia opines that out of all the children of Zulfikar, she was the only capable person to carry the torch forward. Unfortunately she was assassinated before she could stage a come back. Bhatia has done well to pen political biography of one of the most important leaders of South Asia.
By Prof. Avinash Kolhe

Book: Goodbye Shahzadi : A Political Biography of Benazir Bhutto
Author: Shyam Bhatia
Publisher: Roli Books, Delhi
Published in : 2008, Pages: 130, Price: Rs.295/-