New Delhi: To say that former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination last December has changed the face of politics in Pakistan is an understatement.
It's her legacy, tied up with her country's and of course Western attitudes and patronage that she looks back on in her book Reconciliation - Islam, Democracy and the West. The book was slated for release in March, but was bumped up the schedule, after her death.
The book starts out with her return home after 8 years in exile. It also turns into a defence of Islam, written, it seems, primarily for a Western audience. It's a little preachy, but the clash of civilisations is clearly something Bhutto and her co-writer, American political lobbyist Mark Siegel wanted to address.
Bhutto makes no bones about calling Pakistan, the most dangerous place in the world. She traces it back to the militant-ISI connection, going back to General Zia-ul-Haq and bringing in the face of modern-day terrorism.
Whatever insight there is, really stems from the reader's interest and curiosity about those big defining moments of her life. Like the attack that rocked her convoy, killing almost two hundred people on 18th of October 2007, the very day of her return. She had written to Musharraf before that, saying that she knew of a threat to her life from 4 suicide bomber squads, telling him that if she were to be assassinated, it would be due to sympathisers of militants in his regime. However, the bigger message is her call for development, her call for reconciliation.
The books is fairly clearly written, though it is a little pedantic in chunks. However, something you may find yourself picking up to go through, out of curiosity about this rather vocal former daughter of the East.
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