The martyrdom of Benazir Bhutto
Richard Burnett
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Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West, by Benazir Bhutto (HarperCollins Canada), 328 pp.
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Bhutto's deathbed memoir challenges the clash of civilizations
It was never easy being Benazir Bhutto, who surely knew she was going to die. From the very first page in her just-published political polemic, Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West, the reader is constantly haunted by the inevitability of Bhutto's assassination.In fact, her death on Dec. 27 occurred just days after she completed writing this book.
"[My husband] Asif had ordered bulletproof vehicles imported into the port of Karachi, but the government had denied our request," Bhutto writes about her homecoming on Oct. 18 when a suicide bomber targeting her motorcade killed and injured hundreds of innocent Pakistanis. "Asif had ordered jamming equipment to protect our cars and trucks from roadside improvised explosive devices, but we were told the government would not allow us to import it."
This list goes on and on.
But the personal anecdotes and insights into her extraordinary life are not the point of this tome. What Bhutto really does, and somewhat successfully, is challenge the hardening concept that our planet is undergoing a clash of civilizations - Islam vs. the West - while arguing for a reconciliation of Islam with democratic principles, in the face of opposition from Islamic extremists and Western skeptics.
"Modernization [in Muslim states] is related to political and religious moderation and not to fundamentalism," Bhutto writes, later noting, "Democracy and Islam are congruent... As I have discussed, history shows that democracies do not make war against other
democracies. And democracies are not state sponsors of terrorism. Therefore, I conclude (and challenge others to give any evidence to the contrary) that if democracies can be nurtured and sustained in the Islamic world, the possibility of conflict can be reduced."No matter what you think of the Bhutto dynasty (she calls the old corruption charges against her family "trumped-up" and a "witch hunt"), there is no questioning Benazir Bhutto's love for her country.
That today's Pakistan is a nuclear power, the world's new ground zero, with Canadian troops serving next door, makes Reconciliation a must-read for Canadians questioning the need to democratize the Muslim world, and whether such a goal is possible.
That Bhutto - the former prime minister of Pakistan and the first woman to lead a post-colonial Muslim state ("Like most women in politics, I am especially sensitive to maintaining my composure, to never show my feelings [because] a display of emotion by a woman in politics or government can be misconstrued as a manifestation of weakness," she writes) - is no longer here only strengthens her message.
In fact, her final written words are, "There has been enough pain. It is time for reconciliation."
