Scenes of chaos

The memoir is another attempt by a Bhutto to rewrite history
By Huma Imtiaz

Songs of Blood and Sword: A Daughter's Memoir
By Fatima Bhutto
Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd.
Pages: 470
Price: Rs 1395

The Bhutto family's tale is one that would prove to be a blockbuster film and be a bestseller… if told well. Fatima Bhutto's Songs of Blood and Sword is the third attempt by a Bhutto to detail their family history and their achievements, the most memorable being Benazir's Daughter of the East. In all the books, the Bhuttos are the saviours, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto a model leader and hero -- and focuses on their struggle to rise beyond politics, repression and violence.

To be honest, one doesn't understand what this book is meant to be. Touted as a daughter's memoir, the book, for the first four and a half chapters, talks about the history of the Bhutto family and traces their rise as an influential feudal family during the British Raj. It quickly moves on to Murtaza's life as a student in Karachi and at Harvard, trying to campaign in Europe for his father's life to be spared, to Afghanistan where he founds Al-Zulfikar, Syria where he meets his second wife Ghinwa, and finally Pakistan, where Murtaza met a death so brutal that one is left in horror at the memory of that fateful night.

But while chapters have been devoted to the rise and fall of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the author has glossed over certain aspects of Bhutto's political career. The description of the fall of East Pakistan quickly assigns all blame to the Pakistan Army, cleverly leaving out mention of Bhutto's role in the political crisis.

The author's selective amnesia continues throughout the book. While a memoir is based on one's personal knowledge and analysis of events, one is disappointed by the lack of details and facts that this book so sorely required. For example, the author takes pains to exclude Benazir from certain parts of history; the omission of Benazir at the side of ZAB in the Simla Delegation in the book being one such example.

Songs of Blood and Sword is not just about the amnesia, but also about conspiracy theories. Fatima Bhutto insinuates, based on a single interview, that Benazir was somehow involved in Shahnawaz's murder. And as we read on, the author seems to adopt a far more forgiving tone when describing Shahnawaz's daughter's Sassi's denial that her mother and Shahnawaz's wife Rehana was involved in the event. And that is what the reader is left with: no investigation, just insinuation.

The most appalling chapter in Songs of Blood and Sword is Bhutto's account of the Al-Zulfikar Organisation, a movement founded by Murtaza and Shahnawaz in the 1980s. Her dismissal of the 1981 hijacking of a PIA flight as propaganda created by the Zia regime and her denial of Al-Zulfikar's involvement in certain acts of violence and terror are a travesty, to say the least. For someone who calls herself a journalist, this book and perhaps Bhutto's credibility would have been well served had she chosen to investigate the matter more closely, and spoken to more than just a few people Murtaza surrounded himself by at the latter stage of his life.

The redeeming part of this book is the chapter detailing the assassination and the aftermath of Murtaza Bhutto's death in 1996. Even though the Mideast Hospital in Karachi has since been torn down to make way for a glittery new building, one can successfully imagine the scenes of chaos that must have pervaded there once. The news spread that Murtaza Bhutto had been brought there.

It is Sabeen Jatoi's account of being unable to find her father's body that strikes a chord, the sense of horror and loss and helplessness is something one can never forget and the author must be credited for bringing, as painful as that memory must be, to life.

Nevertheless, throughout the book, it seems that Bhutto chose to interview the people that would fit her interpretation of history. While one must always take events in Pakistani politics with a pinch of salt, Bhutto's attempt to rewrite history and portray Murtaza as the true heir of the PPP, a noble politician and a confused angry young man who never hijacked a plane are based on a very shaky foundation indeed -- and her arguments fails to strike a chord with the reader.

There is a sense that Bhutto has over-dramatised certain incidents in the book, which may serve her western audience well, but are not unique in Pakistan. The tone itself is hardly engaging, and at times, the author's unnecessary descriptions distract one from the subject at hand. It was not important to know that the author was eating a cookie when she met her father's college roommate, nor does it add to the quality of the writing. What one really enjoyed were the brief insights into Murtaza's jovial character and his wit, and the anecdote of Asif Ali Zardari making a snide remark against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

At the end of the day, it has become tiresome to read members of the Bhutto family harp on about their achievements, presenting their loved one as the saviour and calling themselves a true heir of the legacy of the Bhutto family. One wished that perhaps there would be a Bhutto who would not try this tried and tested pattern, but perhaps that is too much to hope for.

Huma Imtiaz is a journalist based in Karachi and can be reached at huma.imtiaz@gmail.com

Source:
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/apr2010-weekly/nos-18-04-2010/lit.htm#2