By Zainab Imam

IN the stronghold of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the session on Benazir Bhutto’s autobiography Daughter of the East was a resounding success. A lot of thought and discussion had clearly gone into the organisation of the session. While Victoria Schofield, a British biographer and historian, and Daughter of the East author Linda Bird Francke held a conversation about the book, audio and video clips of Benazir were played that moved many in the audience to tears.

Schofield began the session by asking Francke about her first impression of Benazir. “I hadn’t known her before writing the book,” Francke said. “She did not hold back. She was emotional and angry, and was honest and forthright with me.”

According to Francke, writing the book was a cathartic process for Benazir. “She was in a perilous position when we did this book. She did it to keep herself alive — by keeping her story alive in the US, we were keeping her alive in Pakistan.”

They then cut to a short audio clip of Benazir talking about the death of her brother Shahnawaz. Though the audio wasn’t clear, everyone in the audience could feel the pain in her voice.

Schofield then tried to move the conversation to lighter moments and Francke’s sense of humour worked well. “There were plenty of light moments. The first rally I went to with her, the crowd was so dense that I lost a shoe. I was also told to get off the stage.”

Benazir was very particular about her appearance, it seems, and Francke narrated tales of her love of exercise and make-up. In the mornings, Francke said, she would march up and down her garden for 20 minutes because she had read about its benefits in a women’s journal. “I would be running alongside her!”

Once, Benazir even gave Francke a makeover. “She pulled off a miracle one  morning. She did my nails and my hair, and she thought I looked much better after that.” All this was happening while soldiers stood guard outside.

Francke said she never felt insecure when she was with Benazir because Benazir didn’t. “The only time I did was when I was leaving Pakistan after six weeks following my first visit to the country. She called me and told me that I was red-listed, which means that I was an unwelcome foreigner and would be thoroughly searched at the airport.

“Once I was on the plane, I handed my work to the stewardess with my sister’s address written on it, and told her that if anything happened to me, this was to be shipped to my sister in London. The only reason for my fear was that I had Benazir’s diaries which were clearly not too flattering for Zia.”

The book took Francke six months to write but she had to finish it four times. The first time she thought the manuscript was complete, Benazir announced that she was having an arranged marriage. “We met in London. Her fiancé Asif was there and her mother was there too and was very happy that Benazir was finally getting married,” she said. “The night before her wedding, she was still working and we were recording. The lights were flickering and she was furious, claiming that Zia was trying to destroy her wedding.”

The second time was when Zia ordered elections in May 1988 and the third time was when he died in August that year. The last and final time was when the PPP won the elections. Recalling the event, Francke said, “I was in Larkana in Sindh and the women were camped out, singing and dancing. Then we went to Naudero. And then miracle of miracles, she won. December of that year, she was named the prime minister and the book finally ended.”

The session closed with the clip of Benazir’s last rally in Rawalpindi, on December 27, 2007. There was loud clapping when her voice was heard and she was shown making a speech, and then there was silence as the sound of the bullets and bomb that killed her filled the room. The impact was huge — many in the audience left the hall with tears in their eyes.