Pakistan not failed state: Bhutto

Pakistan is now lorded over a by a man Fatima Bhutto calls 'my aunt’s oleaginous husband', but she insists the country is not a failed state.

The moment Asif Ali Zardari took over the reins of Pakistan her column in The Nation was discontinued, but Bhutto says Pakistani aspirations have always been democratic.

“Governments might have failed, systems might have failed. But Pakistan is a country that could be immensely rich,” she says.

Bhutto is in Kerala to inaugurate the fourth edition of Deccan Chronicle Kovalam Literary Festival on October 1.

“Don’t mistake what you see in Pakistan today as democracy. The country is notorious for its corruption and mismanagement. While the country is reeling from the onslaught of two consecutive floods, the government has the gall to put out a $3-million advertisement in The Wall Street Journal. You can’t call this democracy,” she says.

Politics seems to repel this young Bhutto. “I don’t see politics furthering anything progressive. I never wanted to be a politician. I always wanted to be a writer,” she says.

Bhutto keeps Face-book, too, at an arm’s length. “The intrusion is tremendous. Amid all the fun, people willingly surrender their privacy. Facebook is not my favourite medium,” she says.

Bhutto’s memoir Songs of Blood and Sword might not have been translated to Urdu, but it can be found in Hindi. Among Indian writers in English, she loves Rushdie and Naipaul.

Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/kochi/pakistan-not-failed-state-bhutto-618