Benazir offered to pour me tea, asked about my children

By Fakir Hassen

Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated last Thursday as she left a rally, had a unique bearing that made her stand out among many world leaders. I was fortunate to be one of very few journalists who got the opportunity to interview the then prime minister of Pakistan when she attended the inauguration of president Nelson Mandela in 1994 together with scores of other world leaders.


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The meeting had been arranged by Nadeem Riaz, the then press attaché at the newly-established Pakistan High Commission in Pretoria, and his wife Ayesha, who had become good friends after Ayesha first contacted me while I was manager of the station Radio Lotus to offer Pakistani music, which she said was “too absent” on the station which catered to South Africans descended from sub-continental immigrants.

There were repeated security checks and clearances, more by the hosts than the Pakistani team at the Sandton Sun hotel, where security had never been tighter as several world heads of state were resident there to attend perhaps the greatest political event in South Africa’s history.

After that I was ushered into a room where Bhutto sat on a sofa, resplendent in her Hijab headscarf, which she constantly adjusted during her interview.

I recall my first impression being that she must be spending a lot of time on her makeup, as she had this flawless image that made me think she could easily have been a movie star herself.

But the initial perception of a stern, domineering politician faded away very quickly as Bhutto enquired after my own children and spoke about her love for children generally, although she remained fiercely protective of giving any details about her own children. The imposing presence melted even more quickly as she offered to pour me a cup of tea herself, despite aides being at hand.

Then Bhutto chatted informally, revealing a great depth of knowledge about the history of South African politics, and wanting to know whether the South Africans of Indian descent included those whose forebears came from what is now Pakistan and how they felt about the newfound freedom from apartheid rule and democracy here. It was almost turning into me becoming the interviewee rather than interviewer when an aide reminded us of the time constraint and we reverted to the original purpose.

In retrospect, I cannot help thinking that there was a bit of an irony in the fact that I was interviewing Bhutto at the inauguration of Mandela, the only other world politician I have ever had the privilege of meeting who had the same knack of putting you at ease and displaying such caring that you immediately change your perceptions of them as being as human as the rest of us – having families they care about, while not compromising on their commitment to the cause of their own people and nations.

Just a week before her assassination, I saw a satellite television interview where Bhutto, quoting the Quran, said very confidently that she had no fear of being killed by any Muslim because she believed that “no true Muslims would ever attack a woman because they would burn in Hell”.

Now, as speculation continues about who was behind the assassination and even how the leader died, her words seem to ring alarm bells about attitudes towards not just social values, but even religious prescriptions in a world gone awry with global terrorism.

(Fakir Hassen is a Johannesburg-based journalist and can be contacted at [email protected])

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