LOS ANGELES — A gift given to me years ago from Benazir Bhutto, an elegantly decorated wood jewelry box slathered in glossy lacquer, still adorns a sideboard in our home.
The then-prime minister of Pakistan had wanted everyone in the room of visitors to remember her for her best. This was in 1993, not long after her second election as prime minister.
No Pakistan leader ever knows how long she, or he, will be around. In 1979 her father was hanged by the Pakistani military dictator then in power; his last will and testament to her and to the world was a book titled "If I Am Assassinated." In 1996, even while his daughter was still prime minister, her uncorrupt brother, Murtaza Bhutto, was ambushed and executed.