'If my children go into politics? Again very ambiguous, because I don't want them to go through what I went through. As a mother I want to protect them from the tragedies that I have seen in my life, but they are growing up in a political home. They see politicians all the time.

So for them being in politics is natural and they play games about who is going to be prime minister.

I tell them, "Wait a minute. First you've got to get a job and you've got to get a profession. You can't even think about politics without having a law degree or a medicine degree or engineering, some degree."

So I temper their enthusiasm. The world is changing, and I think that in the new global century you can have a career without being in government. Through NGOs and community service there's a great deal that can be done.'

Excerpted from an interview to Academy of Achievement

Photograph: Benazir with Bilawal, who is now 19, listens to the results of the general election on October 6, 1993 at Naudero, near Larkana in Pakistan. Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images Also read: Benazir Bhutto's magic works

Back

|

Next