THE TELEGRAPH: As in Yeats's Easter 1916, death changes our view of certain people utterly. It's a tricky thing to broach the martyrdom and apotheosis of someone you didn't like and have publicly criticised.
The news reports after Benazir Bhutto's death repeatedly featured footage of her uttering the fateful words, "Don't worry, God willing, I will be safe. I will be safe."
I'd seen that same interview earlier and at the time I commented scornfully on the platitudes carefully chosen to appeal to her Western audience, the peculiar nasal delivery, the disingenuousness.
What I saw after her murder was only vulnerability, the uncertain smile that followed the words, and her bravery. And it made me profoundly sad.
Who can doubt that Benazir was physically brave? With an executed father and two murdered brothers, no one could have been more aware of the risks of entering Pakistani politics. But she refused to be intimidated by threats from local opponents and extremists who viewed her as an American stooge.
She continued campaigning even after the attempt on her life the day she returned to Pakistan on October 18, which left up to 140 people dead. In the end she was killed just two miles from the spot where her father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was hanged 28 years earlier. As prime minister, Benazir Bhutto did little >>> Says Jemima Khan
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
