Daughter Of The East

Daughter Of The East
“I am the daughter of Indus, I am the daughter of Taxila, I am an heir of this 5,000-year-old civilization”
(Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto)

Only the poetic consciousness of Shah Abdul Lateef Bhitai could have given the words to her audacious struggle. Her audacity stood in the way of bigotry. Shah Sain would have placed her as the torchbearer of his seven queens: Marvi, Momal, Sassi, Noori, Sohni, Sorath and Lila for her fortitude and courage.

Benazir Bhutto was born on June 21, 1953, in Karachi. She became the first female prime minister of Pakistan. She was elected twice as the prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1996.

On the 11th of April, 1986, a journalist Steven R. Weismann wrote a special feature in the New York Times, titled “A Daughter Returns to Pakistan for Victory”.

Hundreds of thousands of people thronged the streets of Lahore in 1986 to peacefully declare their loyalty to Benazir Bhutto, who was 33 years old at that time. This was the biggest anti-government rally in Pakistan since General Zia-ul-Haq seized power in a military coup in 1977.

The icon of democracy, Benazir Bhutto wrote quite a few books, her last one was Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West. The value of this book lies not only in its comprehensive explanation of the conflicts, but also in the panacea that she prescribes for all of these conflicts: “accommodation and reconciliation”.

The author is a Development Specialist based in Karachi