Write-up by Benazir part of book on lives of women in politics

Islamabad, Oct 17 (PTI) A write-up by slain former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto has been included in a book in which women express their frustrations about motherhood, their disappointment with unsupportive work environments and their deep desire for social change.

"The Maternal is Political: Women Writers at the
Intersection of Motherhood and Social Change," edited by Shari
MacDonald Strong, contains a volume of literary essays written
by and for mothers – and discusses how "politics affect the
way you parent?"

Bhutto, who was assassinated in December last year by a
suicide attacker, wrote the essay on June 17, 1997 for Slate
magazine and discussed how she balanced her public and private
duties.

"When I graduated from university in the '70s, I was
thrilled. My education was over. A life of exams, grades,
waiting for results was part of the past. I was wrong. Life is
one big exam. And whether it is an election, a speech, a court
decision, or a domestic matter, I am always wondering whether
I am going to pass or fail, whether I am going to make the
grade or not," Bhutto wrote in the essay titled "One Day".

"As leader of the opposition in the National Assembly of
Pakistan, I have to open the debate on the budget proposal
tomorrow. I get up today and head straight for the big bundle
of budget documents, which the finance minister has placed on
the floor of the National Assembly.

"I finish the first reading of the budget documents by
lunchtime. I find that the Intelligence Bureau of Pakistan
spent one-third over its allocation. Was this huge expenditure
to rig the general elections held this February, to fund my
opponents, to bribe witnesses into giving false statements, or
to bribe journalists into writing negative stories? These
questions whirl in my mind," she wrote.

Bhutto also talks about her husband Asif Ali Zardari,
who became head of her Pakistan People's Party after her death
and is now the country's President. "...night of November 4,
1996, my husband was kidnapped by security agents. He was
produced 48 hours later after we raised a hue and cry.

"For eight months, he has languished in a prison cell
in solitary confinement, with temperatures soaring to 48
degrees Celsius. He has not been indicted in a single case so
far, despite the government's tall claims that he was 'The
King of Corruption'."

She also devoted a long section to her children. "I
do not like my children watching cartoons. But I am feeling
guilty. I have to catch a flight to Islamabad, where the
Parliament is based. So I cave in," she wrote, detailing how
her children pleaded with her to let them watch a cartoon
show.

"As I come down the stairs to leave for the airport,
my seven-year-old daughter, Bakhtawar, looks up. Casually
waving, she says, 'Bye, it was nice seeing you. Come back
soon'," she wrote about her elder daughter Bakhtawar, who has
just been elected to a top council of the Edinburgh University
students union.

"I write my speech by hand during the two-hour plane
journey from Karachi to Islamabad. I rush home and into my
study to complete the speech. Once the draft is finished, I
call my party leaders to vet the draft. While they are doing
that, I binge on pizza and chocolate cake. It is four in the
morning by the time we finish. We leave the speech for typing,
translation, and copying, and call it a day," she wrote.

A note on the editor's website states: "Exploring the
vital connection between motherhood and social change, 'The
Maternal Is Political' features moving stories by women who
are striving to make the world a better place for children and
families: both their own and other women's, domestically and
globally." The essays are all literary pieces, but do not read
like oped articles. PTI RHL