A Pakistani feminist voice remembering Benazir

[johanna_hypatia]

Requiem for Benazir Bhutto

Women’s Action Forum grieves.
It grieves with Bakhtawar, Bilawal and Asifa,
It grieves with Nusrat and Sanam Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari,
It grieves with all members of the Bhutto family,
It grieves with the PPP and all PPP workers and supporters,
It grieves with the poor and the oppressed,
It grieves with and for our country and the people of Pakistan,
WAF grieves.

Benazir Bhutto lived a tragic and tumultuous life,
Fraught with pain and loss,
A celebrated life,
Of success and exhilaration,
One that reached out and responded to the anguish and hope of people,
And articulated and converted these hopes, giving sustenance to so many.

Women’s Action Forum while sometimes critical of her policies
Took pride in the fact that she was a woman.
A woman who controlled her own destiny,
A woman who instinctively and wholeheartedly
Embraced equal rights and opportunities,
For women and religious minorities,
A brave woman, a woman of courage.

As with her father, Z. A. Bhutto,
Look for her in moments that need fortitude,
Look for her in moments that need courage,
Look for her in hope,
Look for her in all those she touched.

Women’s Action Forum grieves.