Benazir Bhutto has been part of my life since I was a 16-year-old student.
I first saw her in 1988 when a march she was leading passed by my
father's shop in the east-Pakistani city of Sialkot. It was nine years
after the execution of her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, by acting
President General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.
It took until years later when I was working as a reporter in
Pakistan for me to understand that Bhutto had something in mind for
Pakistan. That's why she chose the dangerous path of politics even
after it claimed the lives of her father and two brothers.
Even though I was not a Bhutto supporter, I was always amazed that
she gave up a luxurious Western lifestyle to return to a country like
Pakistan.
Her party slogan is Roti, Kapra Aur Makan. The Urdu words mean food,
cloth and shelter, and they made her popular among the poor and her
party workers. Bhutto lived much of her life outside Pakistan.
She spent a long stretch in the United States and was educated at Harvard and Oxford universities.
Bhutto's father was executed in 1979 after a military coup. She fled
the country soon after, returning in 1988. She wasn't able to fluently
speak Urdu, the national language. That was an issue in the media until
she mastered it.
She gave up her western lifestyle to take the leadership of the
Pakistan Peoples' Party. She believed in its motto -- Democracy in
Pakistan.
As a reporter, I first met her in 1994 when I was working for
Pakistan's national Urdu language newspaper. I found her well educated
and a great admirer of the democracy that she always struggled to bring
to her country.
She became prime minister at 35 -- the youngest person, and the first woman in the Islamic world.
Bhutto always had a great smile on her face, which I think was also
a gift given to her by God while she lived in western countries.
One thing that sticks in my mind was the pink scarf she often wore.
We were at a wedding together and I asked her why she wore it so often.
Bhutto gave me a big smile and pointed toward many men wearing pink
shirts. She explained to me that it was a colour associated with women
in the West. It was a personal learning for me.
In government or in exile, Bhutto was always outspoken. It was one
of the reasons for her popularity. And it made her a target for enemies.
She knew her life was in danger from the moment she returned to
Pakistan to contest the Jan. 8 elections. But the two-time prime
minister didn't dwell on it.
"I don't think about my death," she said recently.
Bhutto was a very strong believer of Sufism, and was a frequent
visitor at religious shrines. Being a Shia Muslim, she was very popular
among the Shia minority in the country.
She was also important to the poor. In my travels to remote areas and villages, I often found her picture in their homes.
It was if she were a saviour.
I can imagine those muddy homes flying her party flags after she
arrived in 1988. The majority of those who live in poverty loved her to
the extreme.
Many politicians say they embrace the idea of democracy in Pakistan.
But they don't hesitate to switch parties or loyalties when it suits
them.
Bhutto never did.
Recently, she was opposed by the same people who were her allies in
the past. They turned on her, using bad language about her during their
election rallies. I can only say that she was a fragrant island in the
middle of a putrid sea of politicians.
Being the first woman leader in the Muslim world was a great deal for the women of that country. They felt proud of her.
Even her opponents were always proud of her being an educated woman from that troubled country.
How Canadians took the news of her death was a great surprise for
me; and I am glad to see how people here are concerned over issues of
human rights in other countries.
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