FOR many years, questions have been raised in Pakistan about Benazir Bhutto`s Oxford degree. Her detractors, including those writing in these pages, have often insisted that the slain PPP leader did not in fact graduate. Now, thanks to Victoria Schofield, I can settle this controversy once and for all.

Speaking at a tribute for Ms Bhutto, the British historian and journalist said that her famous friend once asked her to get a copy of her degree from Oxford as she had lost the original. She did so, and kept a photocopy just in case. This is just a small example of the vicious rumours that were deliberately circulated about Benazir Bhutto in her lifetime.

The occasion for this talk was a tribute organised by the Pakistan Society at the High Commission in London. The gathering of around 50 members was addressed by the president of the society, Sir Nicholas Barrington, and Ms Schofield. A short film made by journalist Farah Durrani was also shown at the event.

Nicholas Barrington first came to Pakistan in the late sixties as first secretary at the British High Commission. He was introduced to the late Pakistani prime minister by her father when she was a young girl in Karachi, but got to know her far better when he returned to Islamabad as High Commissioner nearly twenty years later. Without claiming to be a close personal friend, he stressed how much he had enjoyed her sense of humour and fun during their many meetings. When he left Pakistan, he carried with him his memories of her deep humanity.

Farah Durrani`s film was composed of clips from her interviews with Ms Bhutto, interspersed with still photos and images culled from newsreels over the years. We glimpsed the young Oxford undergraduate; the grief-stricken daughter; the radiant young bride; the returning heroine; and the brave young prime minister being sworn in by a glowering Ghulam Ishaq Khan. Finally, we saw the attack on her convoy in Karachi on October 18, and then the last act of violence against her by hate-filled men on December 27.

There was hardly a dry eye at the end of this film, and when Victoria Schofield began her talk, she could hardly control her voice. She recalled meeting Benazir Bhutto on virtually her first day at Oxford, and spoke movingly about her long friendship with the exotic Pakistani girl. After recounting their years together, she affirmed that she became a historian largely because of her friend`s influence.

One effect of Ms Bhutto`s murder has been that for the last few weeks, there has been hardly any news of Pakistan in the British media. After the elections, we have mercifully stopped being in the news. The truth is that while Benazir Bhutto`s words and actions received wide coverage, Pakistan only figures in the media when things go badly wrong. Thus, when several people were burned to death in Karachi last week after MQM lawyers flexed their muscles, I didn`t see any coverage.

As far as I am concerned, no news is good news as the last year has seen Pakistan figuring much more prominently in the Western media than most Pakistanis would have liked. First, it was the long-running campaign to restore the judiciary; Lal Masjid and the resultant fallout came next; then it was Nawaz Sharif`s aborted return; next came Benazir Bhutto`s return and the attack on her procession; finally her killing and the elections. So for the last year, Pakistan was probably in the news more than it has been for a long time.

Clearly, bad news sells more newspapers than good news does. So much so that Sir Nicholas was overheard complaining to reporters that now that the new democratic government in Pakistan had settled in, nobody was reporting on this positive development. But that`s the nature of the beast, although I suspect there will be a flicker of interest when the Olympic flame arrives in Pakistan on the day you read this. Controversy has followed the flame along its route, although it is doubtful if there will be much support for Tibetan rights in Islamabad.

The reality is that we, like most people everywhere, tend to be selective about the causes we support. China has long been viewed as a close friend and ally by both left and right. Thus, its human rights record is not something we Pakistanis have ever scrutinised. However, we should recall in passing that when bidding for the Olympic Games, the Chinese government had given assurances that holding the games would lead to an improvement in human rights in the country.

But it would be a pity if the Games were marred by this controversy. Given the huge media coverage of the event, it will be tempting to use this global interest as a vehicle for more protests. National leaders will be under pressure to show their disapproval of Chinese repression of Tibetan protests by refusing to attend the opening ceremony. Indeed, there is already a movement building up to boycott the Games completely, much as the Moscow games in 1980 were boycotted after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

At the same time, there are many voices appealing to activists not to `mix sports with politics`. But the truth is that the Olympics have often been used by states to show off their system, their economy and the progress they have achieved. Clearly, countries expect to get more than gold medals after spending billions on the infrastructure needed to host the Olympics.

The sad truth is that the very people these protests are supposed to help will probably suffer there is no way the Chinese government will relax its stranglehold on Tibet. Indeed, it will probably crack down harder in a bid to quell protests in that troubled part of the country. The backlash is already building up, and many Tibetans may come to rue the support they are getting in the West.