International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) published its special issue of newsletter based on International Conference on the first death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto held at the university recently. The newsletter was published to revive the memories of great leader Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and her sacrifices for keeping alive the democratic traditions in the country, said a press release issued here.
"It's not easy to shed light on a towering and multi-dimensional personality like Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. Moving from the intricacies of international politics to the complex domain of national politics she was in real sense the chain of the four provinces of Pakistan" the newsletter said.
The newsletter has been published under patronage of IIUI President Dr Anwar Hussain Siddiqui and IIUI Policy Planning Head Gulzar Ahmed Khawaja. The newsletter quotes Dr Fahmida Mirza saying that the people of the four provinces had their confidence in her and so whenever the nation was a relatively free chance to choose, PPP was only political party to return successful from all the four federating units. It was because Benazir lived for her people and died for them.
The people would never forget the young woman of only 26 years, who had the guts and courage to challenge the worst dictatorship of our recent times as many of our contemporary politicians opted to compromise with the junta.
In 1977, as she appeared for her first independent public gathering in Faisalabad, in a spur of an emotional moment, she said, "Remember! I' m your sister. I'll live with you and I'll die for you. The newsletter also gives glimpses of a number of speakers which include Dr Manzoor Ahmed, Rector IIUI, Dr Anwar Hussain Siddiqui, President IIUI, envoys of UK, Australia, Uzbekistan, Maldives, Dr Ghazanfar Mehdi, Chairman Archaeological and Historical Association of Pakistan, Agha Murtaza Pooya, Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik and others.
The newsletter has photographs of delegates from 44 countries paying tributes to Benazir Bhutto. In other sections of newsletter, there are details about visit of British foreign secretaries David Miliband and Jack Straw to the university in which they spoke on importance of dialogue among civilisations.
The newsletter also carries stories on visits of American scholars, world churches council and other dignitaries to IIUI, special events on earthquake 2005, Book Fair 2008. It also has news items about obituaries of leading scholar Dr Khalid Alvi and Professor Arshad Mirza. The newsletter also highlighted participation of IIUI faculty members in conferences abroad and their research activities.