Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Recollections and Remembrances Foreword

Q. You say he was a very shy person. But the whole world knows him as a
very daring, brave and bold person.
A. I suppose psychologically, if you are shy, you try to hide your shyness and
you act to be bold and brave. I do the same thing. Basically I am a very shy
person but I always try to hide my shyness by being bold and acting as if I am not
afraid of anything.
There was a fantastic thing about him also. He could sleep for 5 or 10 minutes if
he wanted to. He would enjoy a deep sleep and then wake up. Very often he
would tell me he had 10 minutes and he wanted to sleep for these 10 minutes
after which I should wake him up. The moment he finished telling this to me he
would start snoring. Just believe me, I am not exaggerating. He would have a
deep sleep for 10 minutes and after I woke him up, he would be very fresh. I
asked him how he could sleep like that. He said: “My conscience is clear. That is
why I can go to sleep like that.”
He used to do it quite often because he used to work all the time, so in between
his engagements he got tired and then slept for a few minutes.
Q. Oriana Fallacci wrote in her interview with Mr. Bhutto that he was a man
full of contradictions. He was a rich man who cared for the poor. He was a feudal
but a socialist. He was an orthodox Muslim but a liberal man at the same time.
How do you comment on that?
A. His background was feudal, but he was an educated man. He had been
educated in countries like America and England. His father first sent him to
America which is very modern then to Oxford to create a balance. So he was a
very balanced man. He had a very kind heart but when it came to taking a
decision, he would think from his head. He did not act as many mindless people
do who say whatever they feel like saying. He would plan exactly what he really
wanted to do. He used to say why the poor in our country have to remain poor
while the poor in other countries have become rich. He was the first one who
introduced nuclear energy in Pakistan, when he was the Minister for Science and
Technology. He was the first one who set an educated person belonging to
sweeper community as an ambassador. He was the first one who appointed a
woman, Begum Raana Liaquat Ali Khan as the first woman Governor in the
country (Sindh). He did so man things for the first time that no other person had
done.
He was a forgiving person. He forgave many who had been nasty to him. He
never forgot someone who had done something good to him. When he was a Law
Minister, he would always go and see Iskandar Mirza when in London because
Iskandar Mirza had been kind to him. At that time he was a Minister in Ayub
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Recollections and Remembrances; Copyright © www.bhutto.org
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