A Daughter's Memoir - Fatima Bhutto sings the songs of blood and sword

Fatima Bhutto's Songs of Blood and Sword: A Daughter's Memoir" what the book is about and what Fatima had to say at the reading in Bangalore.


The grand daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the niece of Benazir Bhutto, the daughter of Murtuza Bhutto speaks in the Songs of Blood and Sword a Daughter's Memoir, of the slain Bhuttos' and the conspiracy. From the outset this is book is a very personal account of a dynasty that legacy was rife with violence in its political saga. Her book is being touted as one of the most important books of Pakistan a personal. it is a first hand history that is personal and a historically accurate account of the Bhuttos- who are often referred to as the First Family os Pakistan and its volatile politics.


The book tells the story of the Bhuttos, a family of rich feudal landlords who became powerbrokers in the newly created state of Pakistan; the epic of four generations of a family and the political violence that would eventually destroy the family. It is the history of family and a nation driven by murder, corruption, conspiracy and division. Fatima Bhutto reveals what she went through and what the situations played out in real life which made the theme of the book even more compelling. At her book launch there was curiosity and intrigue as people listened to a highly courageous, intelligent and beautiful woman who is not only a Pakistani but a Bhutto nonetheless, an nepotic association that she personally feels she is better off without. Fatima Bhutto read excerpts from the book and then discussed it with Dr. Narendar Pani who is the Professor and Dean of School of Social Sciences. NIAS.


She was born in Afghanistan in 1982, after which she moved with her father to Damascus where he was living in exile, where she lived with him until she could return to Pakistan for a holiday when she was 7 years old. She speaks about how she tried to be her father’s eyes while she was there taking in the sights and sounds with what she remembered from the storeies that he had told her of the magic in Pakistan. At her book reading, she reveals, that as a child her best memory was however connected to having “this nuclear green fizzy soda pop which as I child I thought, “oh my gosh this is delicious.””


Her courageous account of her life after her father’s murder and how she had to deal with her aunt benazir Bhutto whom she holds as someone who was her favorite aunt, and was extremely different form the aunt she knew before she become powerful. “The day she was sworn in as Prime Minister was the day she saw pulled the dupatta over her head. It was in many ways a step back for women in Pakistan. As a child I used to love to ingratiate myself to her and lovingly nuzzle her as I sat on her lap, the dupatta made it difficult.” Fatima says, the dupattta was almost symbolic of the distance that was to come between their families in the future.


She spoke of her launch in Karachi, where they fought to have the release at the garden in front of where her father was murdered. There was a turnout of over 700 people which she thought was wonderful show of solidarity. She speaks of how the irony of Asif Ali Zardari coming into power was then on 20th September, 2008, which was the 12th anniversary of her father’s death. He took the oath as president of Pakistan. The ceremony had apparently been scheduled for the day before, on the19th, but had been moved on the orders of the new president, who rescheduled his big day for Saturday, in the swearing in speech he even asked for a moment of silence to mark the occasion of his brother-in-law's death. Fatima has been quoted to have said in a previous interview, “My blood froze. It was as if he was taunting us.”


Fatima blames her aunt Benzair for the murder of her father, saying she was Prime Minister at the time and there were 3000 people who were killed in extra judicial encounters, and one of them was her father. There was nothing done for justice, and everything was done in fact to cover up the murders. She said her aunt was if not physically responsible was clearly morally responsible by virtue of her position.


She now lives in Karachi at the historical 70, Clifton which has for decades been the Bhutto home that houses Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s immaculate library which her family is now cataloguing. Fatima has had an elite education from Columbia University and the School of Oriental and African studies and now live sin Karachi with her mother and brother in the old Bhutto house where she practices yoga thrice a week and is a contributing writer of the Caravan magazine, and a columnist for The Daily Beast and New Statesman and a few other publications. The other books she ahs published are 8.50am 8 October 2005, about the Pakistan Earthquake and a book on poetry called “Whispers in the Dessert.” She practices yoga and also enjoy's hip hop music!



Source: http://mybangalore.com/article/0410/a-daughters-memoir-fatima-bhutto-sings-the-songs-of-blood-and-sword.html