From the South China Morning Post this week in: 1979
New Delhi, February 10
'I was born to make a nation, to serve a people,' wrote Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, deposed Prime Minister of Pakistan. 'I was not born to whither away in a death cell ...' The words, 80,000 in all, were addressed to the Pakistan Supreme Court and smuggled out of Rawalpindi jail where they were written. They were released this week in book form by the Vikas publishing house of India after an attempt to publish them in Pakistan was blocked by the military Government. The court last Tuesday upheld Bhutto's death sentence for murder.
His lengthy statement, written as a rejoinder to an official White Paper issued to expose alleged misconduct by the fallen regime, may be his last testament. The book, If I Am assassinated, reveals much about 51-year-old Bhutto's brilliance, personal philosophy and fervent, if not excessive belief in his own importance. 'I am the only person to reverse the march toward self-annihilation,' Bhutto declared. 'I was born to bring emancipation to the people and honour them with a self-respecting destiny.'
(Bhutto was hanged on April 4, 1979.)
Hongkong, February 11
The tradition of rural leaders streaming into Kowloon from all over the New Territories for the biggest and best-known yan yat party, given by the Secretary for the New Territories, has finally come to an end.