The answer is “yes.” Just a few days before her death, the first woman Prime Minister of a Muslim country finalized the manuscript of her new book entitled "Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West". Mark Siegel had worked on it with Benazir Bhutto as a collaborating writer from the West. HarperCollins, the renown American publishing company, is trying to market this book in February 2008.The launching of the book will accelerate the debate about the reconciliation between Islam and the West through democracy. This debate may give a new life to Benazir Bhutto, but keeping this debate alive will be the biggest challenge for the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in 2008.
Father and son at the helm of PPP
The new year 2008 will bring a lot of challenges for the new Chairman of Pakistan People's Party Mr.Bilawal Zardari (19) and the Co-Chairperson Mr. Asif Ali Zardari (53).The same kind of challenges were faced by the late Benazir Bhutto in 1979, after the hanging of her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto by a Pakistani military regime. At that time, her mother Nusrat Bhutto took over the party as Chairperson and Benazir Bhutto (26) was declared Co-Chairperson. In 1979, General Zia ul Haq postponed the general elections for an indefinite period because he was aware that PPP would be benefited by the wave of sympathy created after the hanging of its founder chairman. PPP never faced the challenge of going into elections in 1979. The only big challenge was the political survival of the party and the Bhutto ladies met that challenge with a lot of courage. Later on it was the Co-Chairperson Benazir Bhutto who led the party in practical terms and now her husband will lead the party as Co-Chairperson in the same way.
In 2008, the new Chairman and Co-Chairman of PPP will have to face much bigger problems than their party faced in 1979. President Pervez Musharraf cannot delay the elections for more than two months, and actually they have been scheduled for February 18, 2008. The Bhutto's party will go into the election campaign almost immediately after the assassination of its legendary leader Benazir. Finding out the mastermind behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto is another big challenge. Her widower Asif Ali Zardari is not interested in any investigation of the case under the current regime. He has already pointed his fingers towards alleged suspects. He is more focused on the coming elections as he is sure of sweeping the polls and he would like to get the killers of his wife when his party comes into power. His son Bilawal is ready to participate in the election campaign because he also wants to contribute in the "revenge through democracy" plan.
A majority of activists and sympathizers of PPP were very happy at the first press conference of Asif Ali Zardari as the Co-Chairman because he showed a lot of confidence and spirit to continue the mission of his wife. On the other side, many in the government were not looking comfortable when Asif declared pro-Musharraf Muslim League-Q as the "Killers League." It is feared that when PPP sweeps the coming polls it will immediately start confronting some alleged suspects who are very close to President Musharraf. There are no doubts that the year 2008 will be much more tough for President Musharraf than 2007.Some of his close advisers are trying to find out a way through which they could avoid a direct confrontation with the PPP but they are facing problems. Bilawal is not ready to forgive the killers of his mother like Benazir forgave the killers of her father in the larger interest of the country in 1988. He cannot forget the pains and problems his mother faced without her husband in exile.
In the footsteps of grandfather
Bilawal was only one year old in 1989 when his Prime Minister mother Benazir Bhutto clearly hinted for the first time that her son “will be the next leader of Pakistan People's Party.” Bashir Riaz (called "Bash") was the press spokesman of Benazir Bhutto at that time, who also worked for her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and for her brother Murtaza Bhutto. One day "Bash" showed to his leader a picture on the title page of a French magazine “Paris Match”, in which Benazir Bhutto was standing with her little son Bilawal. Benazir was very happy to see the picture. She immediately asked for a black marker and wrote a question on the magazine’s cover in the name of her infant son: "Dear Uncle Bash, will you be my spokesman when I will grow up?"
That same year little Bilawal met US President George H W Bush Sr. with his mother when she was on an official visit to Washington, D.C. Benazir Bhutto actually followed the footsteps of her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who took his 21-year-old daughter to India with him in 1974, where he held talks with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Bilawal was only two years old when the first government of his mother was dismissed by President Ghulam Ishaque Khan after 20 months. President Ishaque was part of the establishment which hanged Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto but Benazir accepted, hoping for a new beginning of democracy in Pakistan. Unfortunately she was betrayed. Bilawal was five years old when his mother became Prime Minister again in 1993. This time, too, she was not allowed to complete her five years' term and she lost the power after three years in 1996. Bilawal spend the next nine years in exile, without his father who was imprisoned in Pakistan. Half of the 19 years of his life was spent without his father and now the rest of his life will be continued without his mother. Bilawal believes that the killers of his mother are part of the Musharraf regime.
Last-minute threats
Just a few hours before her assassination on December 27th, Benazir Bhutto informed Afghan President Hamid Karzai about threats on her life. She was also warned that her meeting with Hamid Karzai - just a few days before the Pakistani elections scheduled for January 8, 2008 - could create more troubles for her. She was advised to avoid meeting Karzai because some extremists would have another opportunity to declare that a “Pakistani American Agent” (as they often called her) met an “Afghan American Agent”(Karzai). But she ignored all the concerns raised by her close associates. Sources present at the last Karzai-Bhutto meeting revealed that the Afghan President prayed for the safety of the former Prime Minister of Pakistan and in return Benazir responded that "life and death is in the hands of Allah and that is why I have the courage to stare in the eyes of death without any fear."
During the last working lunch at her Islamabad residence Zardari House, on December 27th, her Security Adviser Rehman Malik expressed some concerns about Benazir’s security in Rawalpindi. He was worried why his leader had not been provided jammers (devices preventing bomb blasts) by the Police on that day. He wrote a letter to the Interior Ministry on December 26th and requested more security. He was trying to contact the Inspector General of the Police in Punjab province on the 27th of December, but he was not able to establish any contact with IGP. On the other side the organizers of the public meeting in Liaqat Bagh [Park] in Rawalpindi informed Zardari House in Islamabad that they were ready to receive Benazir Bhutto with thousands of her supporters. Despite all the security concerns, Benazir Bhutto once again decided to take a big risk and proceeded to Liaqat Bagh. When she reached in the public meeting, many people noticed the absence of a police contingent outside Liaqat Bagh. Asif Ali Zardari was immediately informed in Dubai by a close friend that his wife was left without proper security but he was unable to do anything from a distant country.
The ill- fated Bhutto dynasty
After delivering her last speech, in front of a big crowd in Rawalpindi, Mrs. Bhutto was very happy and that was why she ignored the threat again. She started waving to her followers by coming out of the sun roof of the armored and blast-resistant vehicle on her way back from Liaqat Bagh to Islamabad. That was the best moment for the assassin(s) to hunt her down because she was without any proper protection. She was only 26 years old when her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged in Rawalpindi in 1979, she was only 32 when her younger brother Shahnawaz Bhutto was mysteriously killed in France in 1985. She was 43 when her second brother Murtaza Bhutto was killed by the Pakistani police in 1996.That was a great tragedy for her because she had lost her brother when she was Prime Minister of the country and people accused her of not having prevented his death. Just a few months after the assassination of Murtaza, Benazir Bhutto lost her government and then her husband Asif Ali Zardari faced a very long (11 years) imprisonment. Benazir Bhutto spent more than 9 years in exile without her husband. She raised her children as a single parent. She used to teach them the Holy Quran regularly with an English translation. She tried her level best that her kids should not feel the absence of their father. When her very sick husband was released from prison in Pakistan after 8 years, on medical grounds, he was sent to the USA for treatment, and once again Benazir was left all alone in Dubai with her kids. After all the bitter experience in the past, she never allowed her husband and their three kids to come along with her to Pakistan on October 18th 2007.
Benazir's 'second life'
The last 30 years of her life were full of struggle and troubles, but she proved to be a “lady of iron nerves." She was a caring wife, a loving mother and a very courageous political leader. Just a few days before her assassination, Benazir Bhutto told this scribe at a breakfast meeting that she was aware of the threats for her life but she still believed that "there is a difference between a politician and a leader; a politician always asks [others] for sacrifices and a leader always offers their own sacrifice and she is ready to sacrifice her life for Pakistan". Just a few days after having spoken these words, she became martyred for the sake of democracy in Pakistan. I remember that she was feeling betrayed by President Musharraf, who was not only denying proper security to her but also was making plans for rigging the elections (scheduled for January 8, 2008) with the help of Muslim League-Q headed by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. Benazir Bhutto was sure that, despite the rigging plans, she would be able to launch an anti-Musharraf mass movement in early 2008. She was becoming a really big threat to the President and his regime because she was pulling big crowds despite threats of suicide bombings. She was speaking more strongly against the pro-Musharraf Muslim League-Q than against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. That's why slogans were raised against Musharraf immediately after her assassination.
Her party is sure that the bullet which hit Benazir Bhutto in the neck killed her physically but the same bullet killed Musharraf politically.
Her son Bilawal is sure that democracy will not only be the best “revenge” of his mother's assassination but the best way to complete her wish for becoming a bridge between Islam and the West, because only true democracy can become the common agenda of cooperation between the two civilizations.
Only true democracy can resolve the problems of extremism and terrorism.
The late Benazir Bhutto had plans for an international conference of world leaders to initiate a grand dialogue between the Muslim world and the West in 2008. She even planned the engagement of those forces of the current regime who were later blamed for her assassination. Now it will be the duty of the PPP to complete the unfinished agenda of Benazir Bhutto. PPP should not forget what Benazir Bhutto wrote in her coming book and must contribute positively to the grand cause for reconciliation between Islam and the West.
"
The Second Life of The Daughter of Pakistan"
