Wounds heal with time — sometimes not. On this gloomy winter’s day (December 27, 2007), amid the carnage and chaos of the bombs and gunshots, Benazir sailed off into the sunset, leaving behind a wreckage of broken hopes and broken hearts. A decade is too soon to relive a life half-sung. But it is a milestone still and memories need to be recounted and nourished.
An enemy’s golden bullet deprived Pakistan, in one stroke, of its political capital, and an abyss opened beneath our feet. A fertile dream turned into a barren waste. Through her years of two truncated reigns in power, exile and persecution, prison terms and unending court battles and witch-hunts, BB, as we called her, had arrived at the stage, a fully mature, seasoned politician and statesperson. She was ready to play a full hand in the Pakistani and global arena. Like for her father before her, the enemy had calculated that such a powerful force for the good of Pakistan and Islam could not remain alive. The country and the region lost a great political symbol — the lone flower that blossomed in a desert. We, her family and friends lost nature’s most flourishing rose, someone who shone through in her beauty, her brilliance, her kind, loving and sensitive nature.
I have in previous articles (all appearing in Dawn) written extensively about BB. To mark her 10th death anniversary, I wished to recall her memory not through repetition and platitudes. So, let us look at BB through the prism of her very own words. Words written not as a politician, but as a young student, in her salad days. I have retrieved letters she wrote to me in her college days as a student at Radcliffe, Massachusetts. The letters chosen were written in 1970, when she was only 17. Her thoughts and her words at that tender age tell a story of one who was miles ahead of her contemporaries — she was no ordinary mortal. Selected parts of the letters are reproduced hereunder:
A glimpse into Benazir Bhutto’s personality and thoughts through letters she wrote to her cousin
Letter dated January 27, 1970: “The courses I wish to take next semester were planned out during the fall term. I am going to continue with my Indian and European history courses, perhaps take Shakespeare’s tragedies and romances, and a course on the concept of freedom.
“The Jamaat probably got 95 percent of the council union seats by bribes. You say that ‘gradually’ the people will ‘realise that socialism is their only salvation.’ What exactly do you mean by ‘gradually.’ Do you mean that we may win the next elections but not the ones this year?”