Benazir Bhutto: 1954-2007
Dec. 27th, 2007 09:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
figmoI don't know whether to call her "brave" or "foolish" for going back when she did. At the same time, if I said I was surprised, I'd be lying through my teeth. Heck, I don't think she was surprised.
I remember reading an interview with her in the mid 70s in a news magazine. Her father was still alive and in jail in Pakistan (for political reasons); some time after the interview he was hanged. She was finishing up her education in England and talking about her future. Despite Pakistan having never had a female leader, she knew she was the "heir apparent" to one of the country's political parties and would likely die at the hands of an assassin. Pakistan has a long history of violent politics.
She wasn't perfect. Some of the things she did while in office, such as using the Taliban as "security forces," cut crime in her country, but with a very high price.
Even then she knew she was walking into a violent situation, yet she did it with her head held high, as if it was "expected" of her. Every time I read an article about "women leaders" in women's magazines, it always seemed they were more interested in "wives of leaders" than the real thing. I always wondered why these magazines never touched folks like Bhutto or Corazon Aquino, who, to me, rose to the occasion when they had to.
The unstated undertone of the article I'd read in the 70s -- for me, at least, was that things were improving markedly for women in Pakistan if a woman was "expected" to take the helm even though none had done so before. I now wish I remember where I'd read it.
I remember reading an interview with her in the mid 70s in a news magazine. Her father was still alive and in jail in Pakistan (for political reasons); some time after the interview he was hanged. She was finishing up her education in England and talking about her future. Despite Pakistan having never had a female leader, she knew she was the "heir apparent" to one of the country's political parties and would likely die at the hands of an assassin. Pakistan has a long history of violent politics.
She wasn't perfect. Some of the things she did while in office, such as using the Taliban as "security forces," cut crime in her country, but with a very high price.
Even then she knew she was walking into a violent situation, yet she did it with her head held high, as if it was "expected" of her. Every time I read an article about "women leaders" in women's magazines, it always seemed they were more interested in "wives of leaders" than the real thing. I always wondered why these magazines never touched folks like Bhutto or Corazon Aquino, who, to me, rose to the occasion when they had to.
The unstated undertone of the article I'd read in the 70s -- for me, at least, was that things were improving markedly for women in Pakistan if a woman was "expected" to take the helm even though none had done so before. I now wish I remember where I'd read it.
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Date: 2007-12-28 08:43 am (UTC)What disturbs me more deeply is that Pakistan has nuclear weapons. It all depends how deeply the Taliban and their stooges have penetrated Pakistan's army. If they succeed in swiping a few nukes, heaven help us all. Ditto if they manage to kill Musharraf in the next month or two; there is a non-zero risk that parts of the military may simply refuse to recognize a successor and mount a coup themselves. [Isn't it lovely to live in parts of Asia these days? :-(]