SUKANT DEEPAK
No talking about her skin-hugging jeans or the lovely black boots. Not a whisper about the way her long fingers caress her hair and make you so glad to be alive the moment you’re in front of her.
“Why is your guy taking so many pictures?” she asks. You die. Why can’t there be a holy war against those who take her pictures?
Author Fatima Bhutto can easily overshadow anyone on the third day of the Jaipur Literature Festival. Oprah Winfey included. And she wants to talk serious. Only serious.
A young, intelligent woman like her in the Pakistani society which seems to be falling apart — rising inflation, starvation, an army which may take over anytime... Is something wrong in the state of Denmark? The celebrated author offers a fascinating smile, “It must be understood that in the Pakistani society, the gulf between those in power and the ones who are being ruled has been widening at an alarming rate, with the former choosing to be absolutely insensitive towards the issues concerning the masses. Do you know, millions are starving, there is a tremendous energy crisis. In my country, people stand on one side. Power stands on the other. Sad, but true.” But there must be a silver lining. “Of course there is, interesting things are happening. People are trying to make themselves heard. Judiciary is waking up. However, the real issue still remains — people. Read the newspaper headlines in Pakistan; they all scream of who will get the power. Why do we fail to understand that power doesn’t ‘belong’ to anyone. It is very complex phenomenon.”
Mention the never-before role being played by the civil society in Asia in recent times, like Anna Hazare’s crusade against corruption in India, and the lawyers’ protest in Pakistan, and Fatima is quick to respond, “Who is the civil society? Do you know that most people in Pakistan may not even know about the protests being held, thanks to the fact that there isn’t enough electricity to feed their television. And also, why do we take only Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi into consideration while talking about Pakistan? Again, the issue of ever-growing gulf emerges. The most important issues including food, health, land reforms, energy aren’t taken up by the civil society. The problems being faced by far-fetched parts of the country are being ignored. Why aren’t we being sensitive to the needs of the majority? It’s so surprising!”
Now they say that for young Pakistani, India is no longer the enemy… “Yes, America tops the list. That’s because their occupation of Afganisthan is illegal and unjust. The drone attacks inside Pakistani territory are testing our patience like never before. I really wonder how many more Pakistani soldiers will need to be sacrificed at the American hands for us to realise that we don’t need them.”
As an educated young woman, does she feel that feudalism, still a dormant part in the Pakistani society also has a lot to do with the present-day chaos in Pakistani, though she also belongs to a huge landed family. “Sure, it is one of the factors, but then in every sphere- be it the industry, political power or any other institution, only a handful have all the power in that country.”
She has already made it clear that she would not join politics but remain a “critic”. So, how does she perceive the rise in former cricketer Imran Khan’s popularity? “Yes, he does have a personality. The question is whether he’s any different from the other politicians? The guy has always made it clear that he’s pretty cozy with dictatorship. He supported Zia, he has defended Musharraf. And yes, as a woman, I will worry if he comes to power. If you know, he has voted against the woman’s bill and his views with regard to the fairer sex are very orthodox. Don’t forget, that in 2009, he voiced that he was in favour of the Shria law.”
Bring up Kashmir, and she’s quick to respond, “It would not be fair to comment on this issue as there is no Kashmiri in attendance…”
Signing an autograph for a Canadian fan, she whispers, “Also, don’t you think internal borders restrict us to a great extent…?”
Source:http://www.dailypostindia.com/news/10234-intelligence-is-sexy-period.html
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middle.east@insaf.pk
ReplyDelete12:42 AM (9 hours ago)
to me
PRESS RELEASE
The PTI leadership has been saddened to see the baseless tirade from Fatima Bhutto against Chairman Imran Khan. According to Dr Shireen Mazari, Central Vice President, “we all respect and admire the spirit of empathy present in young Fatima Bhutto’s writings, for the people of Pakistan” but she is still ill-informed about the realities prevailing in the country as she has not yet spent enough time here. What little time she has spent has been highly supervised with limited exposure; and that is understandable given the tragedies she has faced in her formative years. Not only was she estranged from her birth mother but lost her father, who was her hero and her pillar of strength, in such a brutal and untimely manner.” Mazari added that having come to know Murtaza Bhutto and admire him for his commitment to rescue his father’s legacy from the destruction being wrought upon it by Asif Zardari it is difficult to critique his young and talented daughter, but she does need to correct her factual inaccuracies.
According to Dr Mazari, Imran Khan has never “cosied up” to dictators. During the black days of Zia, Imran Khan was still playing cricket for Pakistan. His support for Musharraf’s referendum was a mistake for which he has publicly apologized – something very few of our leaders are inclined to do. His apology also saw him suffer Musharraf’s wrath which led to his incarceration in the D G Khan jail known to be amongst the worst in the country.
The reference to the bill supporting rape victims was also placed out of context because the Opposition at the time was combined against the excesses of the then PPP government and it was not a question of Imran Khan opposing any measure aimed at supporting women, especially those suffering abuse. Ms Fatima Bhutto really needs to understand the history of Pakistan more comprehensively rather than through populist slogans only.
As Dr Mazari pointed out, it is the PTI that has placed Justice at the core of its political ideology as reflected in the name of the Party itself. And Justice can only be perceived to have been delivered if the most oppressed in society – the women and dispossessed – are delivered Insaf. So far PTI is the only Party which has made the deliverance of justice at the grassroots level the central pillar of its ideology. As a woman “I am convinced that PTI will give justice and equality to all in this country and that includes women.”
Again, Ms Bhutto needs to get over this romance with “secularism” which effectively is bandied about but if one looks at so-called “secular” democracies, the religious undertones can be seen quite clearly. Even in the so-called “mother of all democracies”, the UK, religion becomes central because the Head of State is also the Head of the Church of England!
Imran Khan’s vision of an Islamic welfare state is very clear and in form akin to the welfare state prevailing in the Nordic countries. As Imran has explained: “Our vision is of a welfare state where the state takes responsibility for providing all its citizens with equal access to health, education, justice, employment and security.
I wonder that why a Pakistani women is afraid of sharia implementation?
ReplyDelete@Alam Zeb that is because people who are advocating the implementation of it don't believe in ijtihad. Those supporting are going to blindly use it for their own purpose. Also, without proper ijtihad how can one even think that Sharia is going to be helpful, with the number of sects that we have now. Also, with the level of politicization of Islam especially after Zia, one sect is going to use these laws to persecute the other, just like the blasphemy law is being abused these days.
ReplyDeletelove u fatima
ReplyDeleteHow you know?
ReplyDelete