[FONT=&]THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SYEDA ABIDA HUSSAIN – “Aur Bijli Kat Gai”
[/FONT]
[FONT=&] AN IMPORTANT POLITICAL DOCUMENT FOR YOUNGER STUDENTS OF POLiTICS IN SEARCH OF LIVING HISTORY[/FONT][FONT=&]. [/FONT]
If I were asked to rank the autobiography of Syeda Abida Hussain in the context of political information contained in it from the time period 1964AD onwards till 2013AD , I will rank it amongst the top 10 books written on the subject of Pakistani politics in the last 50 years . The fact of the matter is that were it not a autobiography and merely a book written to convey political climate of Pakistan for younger students of politics I would rank it in the top five books . Many other good books exist like shahabnama , From martial (1919) to martial law (1958) which cover a good deal of ground which normal “parrot history” books of Pakistan do not cover .
For students of politics of Pakistan , this is an essential buy .
Now for modern city dweller students of politics like myself , her details about her shia ancestry and of pirs pf complicated and long names is not of any interest and actually bring down the book as a political document but then this is an autobiography and is supposed to contain this, especially when this fact is important to her political survival and for her rural votes and also important for the enemies she earned , the sipa e shahaba . Her inadvertent description of shia political network which ruled and rules this predominantly sunni country called Pakistan is more relevant for students of politics but book is not sectarian in outlook , it is personal and national in outlook except her frequent criticism of Saudis and Bandar BIN Sultan and giving undeserved marks to architect of sectarian Iranian mullah regime .
Actually Syeda Abida is one of the few political persons of this country from amongst females whom I listen to carefully when she speaks publically , though I do not share her love of democracy in current format as we technocrat and our business class has nothing to gain from it and want a new constitution for the country more relevant to mainline Islamic spirit and less protective to political superclass lawyers , civil service criminals .
I have never seen Syeda Abida personally but have met her husband once in an hour long nearly one to one meeting and found him decent but some what laid back kind of person , cold like cucumber and uninspiring for a student activist as then I was but he was other wise unemotionally wise and book points to this aspect of Fakhr imam sahib .
I do not know why Syeda Abida thought of Fakhr as exceptionally handsome or sexy but then this is common for every duly wedded wife , she feels that Amilda Marcos was having a close look at her husband from some points of view. Looks more of s suspicion .
The strong point is that the book is full of revelations , small , big and very big .
It was for example not known to me that Sardar Akbar Bugti was a mentor of former justice Iftikhar Chaudhary . Book also quotes Benazir or rather implies her saying that one reason she had to take extra money (bribes) was that when under bad times they had to payout state functionaries to get out of clutches of state, and that in previous bad times they had to borrow money from UAE sheikh .So they are preparing for future bad times!
As a side note to above , If some one asks me , I would allege that leading politicians of Pakistan give bribes to important functionaries of western governments to buy PM ships and such . In both Mughal empire , Ottoman empire and Ranjit Singh empire and early British empire regional “Hukmaranis” were bought as is suspected in Pakistan .
The urdu title of the book is odd , “Aur Bijli kat gai” (Aik Pakistani aurat ka siasi safar ki kahani)for an autobiography and needs review . It is published by Al fasial , Ghazni street , Urdu Bazaar Lahore and priced at 1200 Rs , its English version is priced more than 2000/- Rs.. The quality of urdu exposition is not bad but is not high class , one gets a feeling of mediocre editing .
The strength of this book lies in the range of topics it covers all from direct personal interactions and such things cannot come from commoner origin sheikh Rashid or Musharaf or most of the political lot , such things are usually the treasure coming from political families with 100 year record like Abida’s . or from families where even great grand fathers were educated , such constituting 1% of the families of Pakistan .
One troubling aspect of this book is that book gives a impression of her being a political “lota’ , moving from PMLN to PPP and before this , from this group and that group . She has tried her best to cover this by logical ways but has failed in this regards .
Her usual dislike of religious sunnis is nothing new in children of shia priestly upbringing of Persian influence but her phone call with Mrs.Haq Nawaz Jhangvi is interesting and Mrs.Haq Nawaz Jhangvi reply where she
talks of her “brother” Osama Bin laden affording her , if not an addition meaning Saudi government does not fund sipa shahaba as OBL was opposed to house of Saud )
As a political document this book is A class , Allow me to tabulate some of the topics covered in this long book .
P12 – Describes a meeting with Fatima Jinnah in her late days , where Fatima Jinnah was in deplorable isolation and state apparatus was promoting her step sister Shireen Jinnah instead as a state figure.
P19- Describes her father’s meeting with Raja Mahmudabad , whom Jinnah acknowledges as funder of league and is described as of the main spirit behind famous Regent park mosque
P 34- Describes the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer of her father (Hon col) Abid Hussain , whome she quotes repeatedly in the book .
P50- Describes her facing local anti shia sentiments for the first time in her area .
P78- Describes unhappiness of Bhutto in seeing her impressive large house and his claiming that his house is bigger .A trait of jealousy of Bhutto.
P 88- One of Abida’s first meetings with odd acting Benazir Bhutto and her brusque talks.
P 89- Describes her traveling in the same car with Kosygin’s daughter without knowing her .(Kosygin was USSR legendary FM )
P102- Describes Her first clash with Faisal Saleh Hayat , whom she thoroughly dislikes and competes repeatedly , and is her cousin .Faisal Saleh Hayat is regarded by her as thoroughly evil , corrupt and conspiratorial.
P 113 – Her interview with election cell Gen Chisti and Rao farman ali ,where a junior officer demands ID card to degrade her and Mazari visiting them .
P 118- Describes how Zia offered pardon of life to Bhutto and his arrest in rest house if Bhutto ladies leave politics and Pakistan .
P152- Describes Gen .Ghulam Gillani khan and Nawaz sharif handling tokra of sweets for him ostensibly .
P 129- Describes the personality of Gen Sawar Khan and her getting impressed from him .
P 169- Described the struggle to get Fakr imam elected as speaker against Zia wishes and succeeding, Zia wanting Fakr to be Finance minister instead .
P 187- Describes the humble beginnings of lowly Hussain Haqani as journalist.
P 205 – Describes the “houbara bustard shikar” issue in the last generation where she as usual being anti arab .
P 213- Describes her introducing a lady to Hakim Zardari who became step mother of Asif Ali Zardari
P 218- Describes the writer Saliks premonition of unnatural death just before Zia crash based on knowledge of intrigue it appears he perceived before hand .
P232- Describes the superlatives of Kulsoom Saifullah in appreciating Benazir
P 234- Describes t he crushing direct castigation of Gen Fazl e Haq as he joins parliament by Abida Hussain .
P 277- Describes Diana trip to Pakistan , mention of Imran khan and her own husband’s infidelity to her with Abida Hussain .
Chapter 10 , Describes her role as ambassador and how USA works politically is an important chapter of the book for political students .
P321- Describes the forced retirement of Gen.Hamid Gul by Asif Nawaz , order from USA , personal witness of the order ,
P 340 –Is a description of her meeting with Henry Kissinger who denies having made any threat to elder Bhutto .
P356- Describes a first hand account of Nawaz Sharif – Ghulam Ishaq tussle
P366-is a description of her meeting with wife of Hashmi Rafsanjani and her inherent appreciation of the state led by backward shia mullahs
She seems to hint that Illama Naqvi was getting Iranian money.
P383- describes her disappointment at recognizing Taliban regime of Afghanistan , again a usual shia propensity .
P 394- describes the SC chief justice Sajjad Ali shah removal with dismay ( my own view is to the contrary , I feel he was a conspirator)
P 407- seems to imply that Musharaf did not want Vajpayee visit to succeed and some stoning of cars of diplomats attending dinner was arranged by agencies controlled by him. She implies thousands of lives were lost in kargil because of Musharaf , which is correct .
P 422- describes a meeting with Gen.Naqvi where the later expressed determination to control the outcome of the elections .
P 446-describes Sardar Bugti’s last phone call , he being a friend of her father’s .
P457- describes her meeting with sort of imprisoned justice Iftikhar Chaudhary
P 473- describes the explosion which hit Benazir in Karachi and how Abida got injured in that . P482 - describes a gathering where Rehman Malik is described as Dr.Rehman Malik and when asked as to in what subject he is Phd in the later says “Craminology” and Benazir laughs at the spellings and pronunciation. Last pages describes her as a Benazir close confidante .
Concluding impression :
The book is good book , but does not explain source of Syeda Abida Hussain multi role , is she a natural trouble shooter sought by every one ? Is she a truly independent politicians obsessed with votes & voter appreciations as politicians usually are addicted to ? Is she a agency sponsored agent from time to time, local and foreign ? Dose she work for foreign powers ?
When I put this type of questioning to a seasoned old lady journalist with great connections , she wanted to tell me some other “stories” of her “independence “ that to me was not relevant . Had I not seen Fakhr Imam plain talking and her cousin’s clear cut expositions I might have developed a very suspicious outlook concerning her after reading this autobiography . Offcourse I avoid small print even when I know it . The book does not describe in detail Multan politics where Fakr was aligned with Javed Hashmi and sheikh liaquat Ali at one time
Offcourse Prince Bandar Bin Sultan ignored her as Pakistani ambassador to USA which pricked her but book does not leave us any doubt that she was not on Saudi side which must have been known to prince Bandar , she is not on sunni side either .
She describes her acquaintances as “friends” “Dost tha” which does not look good for Muslim women to say .She likes to be called anything other than “begum Sahiba”what a pity .
Syeda Abida has potrayed her self a a leading feminist of late sixties to nineties and is that appears correct.
Syeda Abida Hussain has been very kind to future generations to provide a document of history as she experienced it . These 1200 Rupees for urdu and 2400 for English versions is worth a buy .
Thanking elderly Syeda Sahiba for this work which could not have been accomplished unless she had an amazing memory or kept a diary like Air marshal Asghar Khan who is quite old and sedentary these days .
Lastly Syeda abida claims to have inspired Benazir to lavel bilawal as Bilawal bhutto Zardari.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&] AN IMPORTANT POLITICAL DOCUMENT FOR YOUNGER STUDENTS OF POLiTICS IN SEARCH OF LIVING HISTORY[/FONT][FONT=&]. [/FONT]
If I were asked to rank the autobiography of Syeda Abida Hussain in the context of political information contained in it from the time period 1964AD onwards till 2013AD , I will rank it amongst the top 10 books written on the subject of Pakistani politics in the last 50 years . The fact of the matter is that were it not a autobiography and merely a book written to convey political climate of Pakistan for younger students of politics I would rank it in the top five books . Many other good books exist like shahabnama , From martial (1919) to martial law (1958) which cover a good deal of ground which normal “parrot history” books of Pakistan do not cover .
For students of politics of Pakistan , this is an essential buy .
Now for modern city dweller students of politics like myself , her details about her shia ancestry and of pirs pf complicated and long names is not of any interest and actually bring down the book as a political document but then this is an autobiography and is supposed to contain this, especially when this fact is important to her political survival and for her rural votes and also important for the enemies she earned , the sipa e shahaba . Her inadvertent description of shia political network which ruled and rules this predominantly sunni country called Pakistan is more relevant for students of politics but book is not sectarian in outlook , it is personal and national in outlook except her frequent criticism of Saudis and Bandar BIN Sultan and giving undeserved marks to architect of sectarian Iranian mullah regime .
Actually Syeda Abida is one of the few political persons of this country from amongst females whom I listen to carefully when she speaks publically , though I do not share her love of democracy in current format as we technocrat and our business class has nothing to gain from it and want a new constitution for the country more relevant to mainline Islamic spirit and less protective to political superclass lawyers , civil service criminals .
I have never seen Syeda Abida personally but have met her husband once in an hour long nearly one to one meeting and found him decent but some what laid back kind of person , cold like cucumber and uninspiring for a student activist as then I was but he was other wise unemotionally wise and book points to this aspect of Fakhr imam sahib .
I do not know why Syeda Abida thought of Fakhr as exceptionally handsome or sexy but then this is common for every duly wedded wife , she feels that Amilda Marcos was having a close look at her husband from some points of view. Looks more of s suspicion .
The strong point is that the book is full of revelations , small , big and very big .
It was for example not known to me that Sardar Akbar Bugti was a mentor of former justice Iftikhar Chaudhary . Book also quotes Benazir or rather implies her saying that one reason she had to take extra money (bribes) was that when under bad times they had to payout state functionaries to get out of clutches of state, and that in previous bad times they had to borrow money from UAE sheikh .So they are preparing for future bad times!
As a side note to above , If some one asks me , I would allege that leading politicians of Pakistan give bribes to important functionaries of western governments to buy PM ships and such . In both Mughal empire , Ottoman empire and Ranjit Singh empire and early British empire regional “Hukmaranis” were bought as is suspected in Pakistan .
The urdu title of the book is odd , “Aur Bijli kat gai” (Aik Pakistani aurat ka siasi safar ki kahani)for an autobiography and needs review . It is published by Al fasial , Ghazni street , Urdu Bazaar Lahore and priced at 1200 Rs , its English version is priced more than 2000/- Rs.. The quality of urdu exposition is not bad but is not high class , one gets a feeling of mediocre editing .
The strength of this book lies in the range of topics it covers all from direct personal interactions and such things cannot come from commoner origin sheikh Rashid or Musharaf or most of the political lot , such things are usually the treasure coming from political families with 100 year record like Abida’s . or from families where even great grand fathers were educated , such constituting 1% of the families of Pakistan .
One troubling aspect of this book is that book gives a impression of her being a political “lota’ , moving from PMLN to PPP and before this , from this group and that group . She has tried her best to cover this by logical ways but has failed in this regards .
Her usual dislike of religious sunnis is nothing new in children of shia priestly upbringing of Persian influence but her phone call with Mrs.Haq Nawaz Jhangvi is interesting and Mrs.Haq Nawaz Jhangvi reply where she
talks of her “brother” Osama Bin laden affording her , if not an addition meaning Saudi government does not fund sipa shahaba as OBL was opposed to house of Saud )
As a political document this book is A class , Allow me to tabulate some of the topics covered in this long book .
P12 – Describes a meeting with Fatima Jinnah in her late days , where Fatima Jinnah was in deplorable isolation and state apparatus was promoting her step sister Shireen Jinnah instead as a state figure.
P19- Describes her father’s meeting with Raja Mahmudabad , whom Jinnah acknowledges as funder of league and is described as of the main spirit behind famous Regent park mosque
P 34- Describes the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer of her father (Hon col) Abid Hussain , whome she quotes repeatedly in the book .
P50- Describes her facing local anti shia sentiments for the first time in her area .
P78- Describes unhappiness of Bhutto in seeing her impressive large house and his claiming that his house is bigger .A trait of jealousy of Bhutto.
P 88- One of Abida’s first meetings with odd acting Benazir Bhutto and her brusque talks.
P 89- Describes her traveling in the same car with Kosygin’s daughter without knowing her .(Kosygin was USSR legendary FM )
P102- Describes Her first clash with Faisal Saleh Hayat , whom she thoroughly dislikes and competes repeatedly , and is her cousin .Faisal Saleh Hayat is regarded by her as thoroughly evil , corrupt and conspiratorial.
P 113 – Her interview with election cell Gen Chisti and Rao farman ali ,where a junior officer demands ID card to degrade her and Mazari visiting them .
P 118- Describes how Zia offered pardon of life to Bhutto and his arrest in rest house if Bhutto ladies leave politics and Pakistan .
P152- Describes Gen .Ghulam Gillani khan and Nawaz sharif handling tokra of sweets for him ostensibly .
P 129- Describes the personality of Gen Sawar Khan and her getting impressed from him .
P 169- Described the struggle to get Fakr imam elected as speaker against Zia wishes and succeeding, Zia wanting Fakr to be Finance minister instead .
P 187- Describes the humble beginnings of lowly Hussain Haqani as journalist.
P 205 – Describes the “houbara bustard shikar” issue in the last generation where she as usual being anti arab .
P 213- Describes her introducing a lady to Hakim Zardari who became step mother of Asif Ali Zardari
P 218- Describes the writer Saliks premonition of unnatural death just before Zia crash based on knowledge of intrigue it appears he perceived before hand .
P232- Describes the superlatives of Kulsoom Saifullah in appreciating Benazir
P 234- Describes t he crushing direct castigation of Gen Fazl e Haq as he joins parliament by Abida Hussain .
P 277- Describes Diana trip to Pakistan , mention of Imran khan and her own husband’s infidelity to her with Abida Hussain .
Chapter 10 , Describes her role as ambassador and how USA works politically is an important chapter of the book for political students .
P321- Describes the forced retirement of Gen.Hamid Gul by Asif Nawaz , order from USA , personal witness of the order ,
P 340 –Is a description of her meeting with Henry Kissinger who denies having made any threat to elder Bhutto .
P356- Describes a first hand account of Nawaz Sharif – Ghulam Ishaq tussle
P366-is a description of her meeting with wife of Hashmi Rafsanjani and her inherent appreciation of the state led by backward shia mullahs
She seems to hint that Illama Naqvi was getting Iranian money.
P383- describes her disappointment at recognizing Taliban regime of Afghanistan , again a usual shia propensity .
P 394- describes the SC chief justice Sajjad Ali shah removal with dismay ( my own view is to the contrary , I feel he was a conspirator)
P 407- seems to imply that Musharaf did not want Vajpayee visit to succeed and some stoning of cars of diplomats attending dinner was arranged by agencies controlled by him. She implies thousands of lives were lost in kargil because of Musharaf , which is correct .
P 422- describes a meeting with Gen.Naqvi where the later expressed determination to control the outcome of the elections .
P 446-describes Sardar Bugti’s last phone call , he being a friend of her father’s .
P457- describes her meeting with sort of imprisoned justice Iftikhar Chaudhary
P 473- describes the explosion which hit Benazir in Karachi and how Abida got injured in that . P482 - describes a gathering where Rehman Malik is described as Dr.Rehman Malik and when asked as to in what subject he is Phd in the later says “Craminology” and Benazir laughs at the spellings and pronunciation. Last pages describes her as a Benazir close confidante .
Concluding impression :
The book is good book , but does not explain source of Syeda Abida Hussain multi role , is she a natural trouble shooter sought by every one ? Is she a truly independent politicians obsessed with votes & voter appreciations as politicians usually are addicted to ? Is she a agency sponsored agent from time to time, local and foreign ? Dose she work for foreign powers ?
When I put this type of questioning to a seasoned old lady journalist with great connections , she wanted to tell me some other “stories” of her “independence “ that to me was not relevant . Had I not seen Fakhr Imam plain talking and her cousin’s clear cut expositions I might have developed a very suspicious outlook concerning her after reading this autobiography . Offcourse I avoid small print even when I know it . The book does not describe in detail Multan politics where Fakr was aligned with Javed Hashmi and sheikh liaquat Ali at one time
Offcourse Prince Bandar Bin Sultan ignored her as Pakistani ambassador to USA which pricked her but book does not leave us any doubt that she was not on Saudi side which must have been known to prince Bandar , she is not on sunni side either .
She describes her acquaintances as “friends” “Dost tha” which does not look good for Muslim women to say .She likes to be called anything other than “begum Sahiba”what a pity .
Syeda Abida has potrayed her self a a leading feminist of late sixties to nineties and is that appears correct.
Syeda Abida Hussain has been very kind to future generations to provide a document of history as she experienced it . These 1200 Rupees for urdu and 2400 for English versions is worth a buy .
Thanking elderly Syeda Sahiba for this work which could not have been accomplished unless she had an amazing memory or kept a diary like Air marshal Asghar Khan who is quite old and sedentary these days .
Lastly Syeda abida claims to have inspired Benazir to lavel bilawal as Bilawal bhutto Zardari.
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