Benazir Bhutto's Will - I May Have Been Harsh

I have been writing about Benazir Bhutto's will. Finally they released it today.

The key sentence there is "I would like my husband Asif Ali Zardari to lead you in this interim until you and he decide what is best." (emphasis mine)

[Pending certification of this will by handwriting experts and other issues circulating such as a hefty life insurance on her taken by Zardari I feel a tad of remorse at the harsh stand I took here. I had blamed her for treating the party as her jaagir - her personal fiefdom and acting all haughty and feudal.]

Her will is dated October 16, 2007 just two days prior to her departure for Karachi. From here we learn:

I had become aware, through messages sent by Musharraf, that suicide squads might be sent from the North West Frontier Province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas to try to assassinate me immediately on my return. I had actually received from a sympathetic Muslim foreign government the names and cellphone numbers of designated assassins.

Couple this with her ease and familiarity with the English language. Hence the words interim is both significant and intriguing.

She could have anticipated a worst case scenario - her death mid-campaign. In this case the word interim would indicate just that. There is no mention of her teenage son Bilawal Zardari in this portion of her Will.

Charitably, It could be construed from these words that she meant that the CEC (Central Executive Committee of the PPP) would democratically elect another leader afterwards.

But this also raises the following questions:

* Why the need to change names in a hurry? Remember this announcement came just the day after her assassination, when everyone, including her children were in shock. [Backgrounder: Bilawal Zardari and her two daughters added Bhutto to their names.]

* Why the Machiavellian rush to accept the mantle and pass it on immediately to young Bilawal?

* Why the delay in not releasing the entire will? Sherry Rahman, PPP spokesperson said the other portion of the will was private and personal. It needs to be pointed out that there is nothing private about a public person. Quaid e Azam's will is out in public. In fact, it enhances his stature and image, if you have read it.

Back to interim - and being charitable: Asif was designated only as an interim leader. NOT an interim Chairperson. You know what that entails!

And after the January 08 elections, or now after February 18, and after a suitable time lapse, elections would be conducted for the leadership of PPP. Imagine if that were the case.

Aitezaz Ahsan, Amin Fahim, Qureshi, Rabbani, Asif or Bilawal even could contest. That could have been the lasting legacy of Benazir Bhutto.