Benazir Bhutto - SZABIST

It took her over 19 hours to travel from the airport to the centre of town and in those 19 hours, a new
political star was born. She repeated that performance days later in Peshawar, then Quetta and then
finally, at her home, Karachi.
By the end of that first week, Pakistan knew its future prime minister would be Benazir Bhutto. It was
just a matter of time before she took over.
My last conversation with Benazir was four days ago. Roughly a week before that, I had interviewed
the National Security Adviser, MK Narayanan, who had expressed doubts about Benazir’s ability to
deliver on her promises to India. He pointedly mentioned that in 1988 she had made certain
commitments to Rajiv Gandhi, which she had, he claimed, failed to deliver on.
This infuriated Benazir. Within hours of the interview being broadcast, she rang me, upset and angry.
“Why did he say this?” she asked. “If he had questioned my constitutional position caught between the
President and army chief, I could have understood, but he didn’t. Instead, he questioned my ability to
deliver. He seemed to be questioning my integrity.”
I tried to assure her. I told her that she was reading too much but she would not listen. “What is
worse”, Karan, she added, “is that he then went on to mention an incident in 1988 when he claims I
made a commitment to Rajiv which I did not deliver on… The truth is that Rajiv made a commitment
to me that Rajiv backed out of. But I never spoke about that and I never will. So why are these false
allegations being made.”
Days later, I mentioned this to
G Parthasarthy. In ’88, Partha was part of Rajiv’s PMO and had visited Islamabad with Rajiv. Years
later, Partha was high commissioner to Islamabad. Partha confirmed that what Benazir said was
correct and the NSA’s scepticism of Benazir was misplaced.
Partha told me that Rajiv had made commitment on Siachen which he had not been able to keep.
When I said if he would say this in public and set the record straight, he laughed but declined: “I cant
defend Benazir by letting down Rajiv.”
Tonight, when Benazir is dead, and so tragically killed, I hope Partha will understand if I make this
story public and I hope the NSA will appreciate the reason why I am sharing with the world Benazir’s
side of the story.
That conversation led to two or three more. I warned her to be careful.
“Don’t take silly unnecessary risks,” I said. Benazir laughed. It was an infectious little girl laugh.
“Karan, I can’t live with fear in my heart. I can’t fight terror scared of the terrorist. And if ordinary
people have to face up to death, then politicians must be ready to face that situation first.”
Hindustan Times
December 28, 2007