Monthly Archives: January 2021

Benazir Bhutto Offer, 1999

This account from journalist and former High Commissioner of Pakistan to the UK Wajid Shamsul Hasan contains an anecdote which I had not previously read:

Like Imran Khan and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif martyred Benazir Bhutto too was under lot of pressure in her two tenures from the Americans to recognise Israel and roll back Pakistan’s nuclear programme. I am privy to what she had been through resisting American pressure. She was overly defiant and brave to tell them almost to go to hell.

I remember in February 1999 she was offered safe passage to Pakistan, withdrawal of cases, a media blitzkrieg to write off all allegations of corruption and her return as prime minister a third time provided she agreed to nuclear roll back and Israel’s recognition.