Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, the daughter of President Asif Ali Zardari and the late former Prime Minister (PM) Benazir Bhutto, critisised former US intelligence officer John Cris Kiriakou for his allegations regarding reportedly corruption by Benazir Bhutto as prime minister, the private media outlet reported on Monday.
In an interview with the Indian news agency, Kiriakou, who worked for the United States’ (US) Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), shared details of his meeting with the late former prime minister while she was in exile in Dubai.
He claimed in his interview that former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari owned a “$5 million house” and a collection of luxury cars, adding that their luxury lifestyle made him question their awareness about the difficulties of common Pakistani people.
“I understand that corruption is a problem there, but that level of corruption?” Kiriakou had remarked in the viral video, which led Bakhtawar Bhutto to respond to it on Sunday.
“The implication that she was born with nothing and had to be dependent on something illicit to afford her lifestyle is incredibly dishonest and just absolutely false. She was paid $100,000 for a single lecture whilst in exile. This doesn’t even include any of her inheritance or agricultural land(s),” Bakhtawar Bhutto commented on the video.
She went on saying while talking about her mother, “she worked to maintain her lifestyle & family even when wanted by a military dictator & fighting politically motivated cases (that saw her own father hanged) but relentlessly continued to work and fight whilst her husband was imprisoned for over 11 years. Pathetic to attack and attempt to defame someone who is no longer in this world for some desperate clicks with nothing but absolute disinformation.”
She further said, “Again, the implication that the only means of success must translate into crime is absolutely ludicrous – he came from a land owning family who had multiple business ventures, including building and owning the first cinemas in Pakistan in the 1960s,” .
“The state of Pakistan & rampant poverty was certainly not a fault of my parents like you try and make it out to be – though you could spend 5 minutes to see what accomplishments they did for the working class despite their very privileged backgrounds and the difference it did make – not that we need your validation it does come in the form of votes from the very same people you very colonially assume cannot afford to eat,” Bakhtawar asserted.
