KARACHI “Fourteen years ago, on this street next to where we stand, seven men were murdered. The Bunyan trees provided cover to the Karachi police. More than a hundred policemen were waiting for my father with loaded guns...” These were Fatima Bhutto's moving opening remarks at the launch of her book Songs of Blood and Sword at Clifton Park on Tuesday evening.

Recounting the ghastly events of September 1996 when her father Mir Murtaza Bhutto was assassinated along with some of his friends, Fatima said “My father was shot several times; he was killed pointblank with a shot into his jaw.
They wanted to silence his voice.”

They couldn't, she said.

She also mentioned the names of those who lost their lives trying to protect Mir Murtaza Bhutto, and of Aashiq Jatoi who was killed in the same incident and whose daughter Sabeen and Fatima had ever since become close friends.

Fatima in a very poignant manner said “We know who ordered their assassination...They are frightened by this book. They want that the truth is not heard. The people of this city know them.”

Talking about Z.A. Bhutto she said “They've hijacked the name of my grandfather.”

Fatima said her book was a labour of love. “It's born out of love... It's a love letter to my Papa.”

She said she's keeping the promise that she made to her father. “I want to tell his story. What he knew was too dangerous.” She said her father wanted her to write this story for him, because he thought she could do it.

Fatima said she had written the book for her brother Zulfikar, for Ghinwa Bhutto, who she claimed was her hero, for Mir Ali, and for the nation and for voiceless men and women who suffer problems like electricity shortages and price hikes on a regular basis.

She said “There may not be justice in politics, but we seek it still... Love can't be defeated.”

Fatima Bhutto rounded off her speech by reciting a poem, The Poem of the Unknown.

Earlier on, introducing Fatima, president of a private TV channel Imran Aslam said Fatima Bhutto's book was a symphony to our times. Someone had to chronicle that period. And Fatima had proved to be a writer of brilliant insight and impeccable integrity. He said memory and reflection come together in the book and added that “we could see Mir Murtaza's genes in the author's forbearance”.

Sabeen Jatoi also spoke on the occasion, highlighting her friendship with Fatima and the way she faced the tumultuous phases of her life.