O J’s Corner

Braver than many men

Destiny’s Daughter Benazir lived up to the Bhutto legacy. She was braver than many men. That was why she chose to end her eight years of exile and return to her homeland amidst a lot of uncertainties. She might have been over-confident initially as she could strike a deal with Pervez Musharraf at the behest of the US. I wonder how serious allegations of corruption levelled against her necessitating her exile could be quashed by the rulers one fine morning. I cannot understand how “corrupt” leaders can be allowed to run way to foreign countries. That is with regard to the affairs of Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Zardari. Is Nawaz Sharif not a wrong-doer once he is outside Pakistan? If Bhutto was chaperoned by the US, Saudi Arabia apparently did the bidding for Nawaz Sharif. One way or other the leaders’ affairs are beyond ordinary laws. Which means not everything was above board. When one leader assumes power, it is good riddance for the former leaders. This is nothing but rustic ways, far away from the ways of democracy. But that is an aside.

Benazir saw her father Zulfikar hanged to death by tyrant Zia-ul-Haq. When her father was incarcerating in prison under death sentence handed down by the Pakistani military dictatorship in 1979, other members of her family were trying to flee the country. Benazir boldly flew back to Pakistan. Her confrontation with brutal Zia-ul-Haq cost her five years of her life in prison.

She saw one of her brothers, Shahnawaz, die in mysterious circumstances in south of France in 1985. Another brother, Mir Murtaza, was shot down outside the family home in Karachi by uniformed police in 1996.

When she was Prime Minister ( mind you, she was the first woman Prime Minister of an Islamic country!), she pursued a very active pro-Taliban policy, which was intended to have her sway over Afghanistan one the one side and secure strategic depth in its long confrontation with India over Pakistan. In all she spent thirty years navigating turbulent, sometimes extremely violent Pakistani politics.


Daughter of Destiny was the title she gave to her autobiography. Lately, she was willing to lead a battle against Taliban and al-Qaeda. It seems she was truly worried about lack of democracy and the mullah-manipulated politics in Pakistan.

Perhaps the Bhutto legacy would be carried on by her son Bilaval and ,if need be, two daughters. But it is a long time to come.

Pakistan getting destabilised is a real threat to India, and the world at large. Whatever the assertions of safety of nuclear weapons in Pakistan, the world’s deadliest terrorists are camping in that country. No one is totally controlling them. Ultimately, the US will have to act strongly against them one way or other. Otherwise, it would be a worse danger for them than that it witnessed in the twin tower tragedy in 2001.