Bhutto blasts Benazir at book launch

BANGALORE: Fatima Bhutto, niece of slain Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, has called the President of that country, Asif Ali Zardari, a thief and a murderer.


“My father, Murtaza Bhutto, often called Zardari a chor (thief) and had coined the term ‘Asif Baba and the Chalees Chor (Asif Baba and the 40 thieves)’ for him and his band of supporters,” said Fatima, at the launch of her book Songs of Blood and Sword: A Daughter’s Memoir at Reliance TimeOut in the city on Monday.

“Asif Ali Zardari, before he was President of Pakistan, was fighting corruption cases in Switzerland, Spain, France, the UK, and Pakistan and four murder cases. Now, you can understand what kind of leadership Pakistan is under,” said Fatima, the granddaughter of the late President and Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Fatima, who holds Zardari and her aunt responsible for the death of her father, said: “The man who orchestrated the killing” of her father is currently leading the nation. “To get a Bhutto, you kill a Bhutto,” she said.

However, the relationship between Fatima and Benazir was not always so sour. Her aunt was a “different person” when Fatima was a little girl, said the 27-year-old, adding that she had always wanted to be with Benazir, with whom she had then shared an “intimate” relationship.

That changed as Fatima grew older, as did her impression of Benazir. When asked if she thought that her aunt was a better ruler than the military dictators Pakistan has had, Fatima said: “Unfortunately, I don’t think we can say that. When you have 3,000 men killed in one city under an operation called ‘Operation Clean Up’, it sounds like genocidal as it really was.” On the constitutional amendment being brought by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to reduce the power of President Asif Ali Zardari, Fatima Bhutto said, “We are yet to see the law passed. But there should not be one law for the powerful and another for ordinary citizens. Those in power should be scrutinised even more closely and more thoroughly than ordinary citizens,” she said.

Fatima also clarified that she does not harbor any thought of joining politics as she believes that politics is not the best way to bring about change. However, she would continue to write and would use it as a medium for change, she said.


Source: http://expressbuzz.com/cities/bangalore/bhutto-blasts-benazir-at-book-launch/163255.html