Pakistan first lady on her family’s legacy

Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, Pakistan’s First Lady, talks about her grandfather, her mother, and her family's legacy in public service.

Transcript

00:00Your Excellency, I want to kick off by just asking you to walk us through how

00:05you see the role of public service because it's not only a family legacy

00:09but it's also a passion. Just for some context for those who might not know, my

00:17grandfather was Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. He was the first democratically

00:22elected Prime Minister of Pakistan. He gave us our Constitution. He was a voice

00:27for the disenfranchised and he gave his life for his country. He was sent to the

00:34gallows by a cruel and conniving dictator who sentenced him for a crime

00:38he did not commit. Only for 50 years later for the same Supreme Court that

00:44was stained with his blood to come out and say he was innocent. Only proving my

00:49grandfather's last words which were, oh God help me for I am innocent.

00:54My mother, Shaheed Mothurma Benazir Bhutto, was the first and youngest

00:59female Prime Minister of Pakistan and in the Muslim world. And it was her pursuit

01:05for justice for her father which propelled her into politics. And hers was

01:10a turbulent journey. She faced police brutality, incarceration, character

01:17assassinations too often used on women, exile. She was basically a mother raising

01:24her children as well as fighting for my father's release from jail and all the

01:31while while running and leading the largest political party in Pakistan.