Political Connections: Fatima Jinnah and Benazir Bhutto
1994; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 21; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/00927678.1994.9933685
ISSN1940-1590
Autores Tópico(s)Bangladesh Politics, Society, and Development
ResumoI n the history of Pakistan two women stand out. One was present at the country's creation, the other is the current prime minister of the Muslim country. Fatima Jinnah-affectionately remembered as Madar-i-Millat, Khatoon-iPakistan, always deferentially referred to as Miss Jinnah--was the sister and closest confidante of Pakistan's founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah. If we examine Jinnah's own testimony we would have to conclude that without Fatima's close supervision of her brother's life, especially after he became ill with tuberculosis in 1943, he would not have lived long enough to see the birth of Pakistan.' Indeed, he would not have had the energy to pursue the quest for an independent state. Fatima dabbled in politics but never served in political office. Nonetheless, she was the acknowledged force that nourished and sustained her brother through those difficult years leading up to Pakistan's independence. Although Jinnah is correctly cited as the man who made Pakistan possible, Fatima's role in the establishment, formation, and consolidation of Pakistan has seldom been examined from an objective point of view, and this article seeks to kindle interest in that subject. Benazir Bhutto's record is still in train, and given her youth she is slated to adorn Pakistani political life well into the twenty-first century. Selected as her party's choice for prime minister in November 1988 and again in October 1993, she is by many counts a better-known personality than Fatima Jinnah. The daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's prime minister from 1972 until 1977, Benazir may not have influenced her father's actions, but she is very much the disciple of the martyred leader.
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