Speaking from silence

BOOK Fatima Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto's niece has grown up amidst violent circumstances in Pakistan. Her book, Songs of Blood and Sword, comes with a sense of urgency, before any more of her past gets blurred, she tells KALA KRISHNAN RAMESH

Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Living the past Fatima: ‘Fear is a strange beast — it only comes when you are safe'

Closely related by blood to three famous people who were killed for their political lives, including her father Mir Murtaza Bhutto, Fatima Bhutto has sworn off electoral politics, but that doesn't mean she stays off political topics. This feisty young woman has on numerous occasions spoken out against the powers that be of the political world, whether it was her aunt Benazir Bhutto's government or that of the U.S. In India to promote her book “Songs of Blood and Sword”, Fatima discusses the writing of the book and her hopes for Pakistan.

What did you feel at the moment you decided you were going to write “Songs of Blood and Sword” ?

I had the idea four years ago, but it was in 2008 that I started writing. I felt a sense of great urgency because the same people were returning to power, with the same aggressive campaigns and I feared that more erasing was imminent since during their previous term they had already destroyed a lot of records. There was a feeling that I couldn't delay, but also a feeling that I had to do it right - right interviews, the right perspectives, and finally people were just so much braver than I expected, so many more people spoke to me.

Do you remember the first line you wrote?

Yes, it's the opening line of Chapter one: “9 September. It was close to three in the morning…”

How did the idea of having the launch at the spot where your father was shot come about?

My mother, Sabeen (whose father was also killed along with mine), and I were talking about the launch, and various places were suggested, but none of them seemed right. Suddenly I found myself saying “I want to have the launch in the street where it happened.” We had to fight for it, it was quite a struggle and till the evening before the launch we were not sure we would get permission, or that people would turn up.

Did you feel that your father was watching?

Yes, I very much felt his presence. It was a powerful moment, and sad, because everybody there had stories, not just me or my mother or Sabeen, but so many others, many of whose stories would go unheard.

What do you think the book means to people who dream of a democratic Pakistan?

It stands for the fact that people will speak, its' a huge sign of solidarity. So many people responded came for the launch, and they made it happen; without people the launch would have been meaningless. I feared till the last but that's a condition of our cities: we just don't know anymore how people will react.

There's a curious movement in the book, you let the reader catch glimpses of a pushy, calculating Benazir much before we finally see her as the woman who sat by and let one brother get murdered, and possibly let another be poisoned, almost as if you're easing the reader into this knowledge. Was that consciously done?

Benazir was a hard character for me… people knew the snippets, but I had to relive my life, I did remember her like that, in different ways at different stages. She always seemed so fragile, and when I was a child, she was still accessible, only later did she completely change into the public, official person.

What about you, are you conscious of being a “public” figure?

No, I'm always getting into trouble; most public figures develop an innate ability to withhold, but I 'm curious, I want to know and if someone asks me something, I want to answer fully.

What's your fantasy for Pakistan?

I would like to see a Pakistan free of foreign control, that doesn't answer to the U.S., that's not reeling from its proximity to the U.S, a Pakistan that is transparent, accountable, where corruption is not acceptable, a Pakistan that would engage more with its neighbours.

In a column you quoted someone saying that the Sufi influence in Pakistan would win eventually. Why?

Sufism has withstood Zia and Al-Qaeda; Its philosophy really transcends the image of men in beards.

You have said that you “try not to pay attention to fear.” How do you do that?

I'm very lucky to have a very loving mother; when you can give and receive love, there isn't much room for fear. And fear is a strange beast — it only comes when you are safe!

Source :

http://www.hindu.com/mp/2010/04/08/stories/2010040851580100.htm