Christopher Hitchens, in Chapter 4 of The Trial of Henry Kissinger (2001), covered the genocide in Bangladesh (East Pakistan) ignored by the top levels of the American government, but did not cover the execution of Benazir Bhutto’s father.
Historians need to research the issue of why Benazir Bhutto would deal with the Pakistani military or the American government after the execution of her father. On December 28, 2007, Tariq Ali offered this explanation:
British Title for Benazir Bhutto’s Grandfather.And I think by this time she had become a very different person politically from what she had been earlier and had decided that she didn’t want to be on the wrong side of history, so to speak. She more or less said that to me. And she realized or she thought that the only way to survive in this world was basically to do the bidding of the army at home and Washington abroad, two institutions which had led to the—which had basically bumped off her dad in 1979 and which were not going to do her any favors.
Benazir’s grandfather, Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto, was awarded a British title for his services to the British colonial empire. He accumulated large land holdings in Sindh.
Historians need to research and explain the extent to which the powerful political families of Pakistan accumulated their wealth and power serving the interests of the United Kingdom at the expense of the interests of Pakistan.
An example of a study of part of this period of British India (before partition into Pakistan and India) is: Imperialism, Nationalism and the Making of the Indian Capitalist Class, 1920-1947 (SAGE Series in Modern Indian History) by Aditya Mukherjee
Feudalism in Pakistan
After the 1947 partition between Pakistan and India, an important research question has been the extent to which feudalism has remained in Pakistan and in India. While much of Pakistan’s history since the partition has included military rule, there has been no military rule in India.
In 2000, Professor Sharif Shuja explained why feudalism remains a root cause of problems in Pakistan. But scholars disagree about the extent to which feudalism (in the form experienced in European history) existed in India. See Indian Feudalism by R.S. Sharma; Myth of Indian Feudalism by Sima Yadav and Feudalism and Non-European Societies by T.J. Byres.
Was Benazir Bhutto a Daughter of the East or of the West?
Benazir’s autobiographies were published in 1989 and in 1990 under these titles: Daughter of the East: An Autobiography; (a 2008 edition is available for pre-order); and Daughter of Destiny: An Autobiography. Tariq Ali’s review, “Daughter of the West”, published on December 13, 2007, noted:
She had returned the favour in advance by expressing sympathy for the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, lunching with the Israeli ambassador to the UN (a litmus test) and pledging to ‘wipe out terrorism’ in her own country. In 1979 a previous military dictator had bumped off her father with Washington’s approval, and perhaps she thought it would be safer to seek permanent shelter underneath the imperial umbrella.
The American mass media have no understanding of democracy, given the misrepresentations and omissions covering Pakistan and its neighbors. I have to wonder when the people of the world authorized America and Israel to select the political leaders for other countries. America and Israel cannot force their choices of political leaders on other countries; that is not democracy.
As Binazir Bhutto family history is more fully revealed, Americans can then more fully comprehend US complicity in Pakistan’s assassination politics.(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
