Goodbye Shahzadi: Benazir's life in a book

GOODBYE SHAHZADI: The book is more of his personal observations on Benazir.

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Keywords: Benazir Bhutto, Goodbye Shahzadi

New Delhi: London-based journalist Shyam Bhatia has made sensational revelations about assassinated Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto in his book Goodbye Shahzadi.

This has caused an offended Pakistan People's Party to threaten legal action against him.

Journalist and author Shyam Bhatia says his book Goodbye Shahzadi is a 'political biography of Benazir Bhutto' but the book is more of his personal observations of Benazir.

Bhatia had the luxury of watching Benazir from close quarters as a bright student and an avid debater in Oxford to the first woman Prime Minister of the Islamic world.

In turn he seems to be in awe of her and at the same time critical of her.

The author questions the legitimacy of her claim to be Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's chosen political successor. He condemns her near hysterical cries of Azaadi during the Kashmir crisis in 1990 and her anti-Indian sentiments.

However, there's no doubt that the author is also impressed with Benazir's determination to bring democracy to Pakistan and her Pakistan People's Party back to power.

He chronicles with some success her fight to remain at the helm even when cornered by a hostile president and army chief.

Meanwhile, the main selling point of this book is clearly the explosive revelations of Benazir smuggling nuclear weapon know-how to North Korea and how she carried the data in her overcoats with 'the deepest possible pockets' and returned with designs of the Korean Nodong missile. However, the author has no proof to back his claims.

His revelations of her personal life have raised the hackles of the Bhutto family and he doesn't seem to hold anything back, whether it is her legendary temper or her love affairs with two Pakistani students and her penchant for casual western wear while at Oxford.

Even though at times it is clear that the author slips from fact to fiction, all in all Goodbye Shahzadi makes for an exciting read because its content spans the tumultuous life and times of one of the most memorable people of our time.