Credit:AP Photo/B.K.Bangash
Malik: How did that make you feel to be so out in the public with your emotions?
Yaseen: It was the love and affection with Benazir Bhutto and Pakistan People Party which make me so emotional because I am for the Bhuttos as I have devoted my life for the Pakistan People Party and Bhutto family.
Newsweek article featuring photo of Yaseen in Yaseen’s keepsake album
Malik: How many times were you around Mrs.Bhutto do you approximate? We see photos in your living room of you walking with Mrs. Bhutto or standing with her. Tell us about the photos. Tell us about your work with her and for the party over how many years?
Yaseen: I was with Mrs. Bhutto for last 40 years. I was brought up I was with People Party and Bhutto. It’s a long time as my father was also very close to the father of Benazir Bhutto and we were associated with this party when I was came in to existence by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who was the father of Mrs. Bhutto. When she was tired, she used to sit with us. She sends gifts for my children and exclusively asked about them.
Malik: They say in America that time heals all wounds, is time healing yours?
Yaseen: Yes it might but I cannot forget Bhutto and that horrible day even I have believe that after death her memories and the moments which we have passed will be remarkable for us.
Malik: Tell us what happened that day. You were walking by a vehicle when the explosion occurred. What else do you remember? Show us approximately where you were on the road that day at the moment of explosion.
Yaseen had showed us the exact place and the cameraman taken a shot of the road where the violence occurred and he is telling us his own position. He said that he was on a second vehicle which was following the Bhutto vehicle. Mrs. Bhutto vehicle had not yet taken the turn when the blast went off.
Google map shows locations of Bhutto murder crime scene
Google map shows crime scene locations–closer view
Malik: Since media sent you the articles where you were pictured, why didn’t any media identify who you are, your name and affiliation to Mrs. Bhutto? Did this bother you?
Yaseen: No I did not know any media person and photographer and were busy in the party gathering arrangements.
Malik: Did any of the media present at the scene try to talk to you? If so, who?
Yaseen: No one tried to talk me.
Malik: We have written about America photojournalists having a different standard of showing blown up bodies, detached limbs, horrible blood and gore in news photos only when the people are foreigners–never their own people. How does this make you feel?
Yaseen: I have no idea about this…But how people will know about the news of the murder of their beloved in such kinds of incidents if media will not publish such kinds of scenes?
Malik: What did you think of the photos featuring you also showing highly detailed images of dead and mutilated Pakistani victims in slicks of blood and gore?
Yaseen: It’s really horrible to see these images and it’s really sorrowful. I cannot sleep properly after this incident as it has long lasting effects on my memory and I am always in tense situation when I remember that day.
Malik: Do you think this different treatment of foreigners should change?
Yaseen: We have recognized some people who were died in that incident from the pictures that were published in the newspapers.
Malik: Would you have felt better if media would have asked your name after you settled down (as shown in photos) so you could have been proper identified instead of them guessing you were a “Bhutto supporter who lost colleagues”?
Yaseen: It doesn’t bother me whether they have asked or not, but I am a People Party worker. The photographer doesn’t know me and my name and I also don’t know them.
Malik: Did you know anyone killed or injured that day besides Mrs. Bhutto?
Yaseen: Yes, one of my cousins. named Bashir from Azad Kashmir, and two other persons I knew were killed in the incident.
Malik: What and how do you feel today about having been there that horrible day?
Yaseen: I cannot forget that horrible day and cannot forget Mrs. Bhutto.
*interview has been edited
