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In the bay area, Bhutto's death brings 'sad day'

Floridians who admired the Pakistani leader feel a chill.

By STEPHANIE HAYES, Times Staff Writer
Published December 28, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Times (1991)] Benazir Bhutto speaks to students at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg in 1991.

ST. PETERSBURG -- As violence erupted in parts of Pakistan on Thursday, Floridians reflected on the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

One theme prevailed: When Bhutto died, so did an option.

"It is a sad day for those of us who had hoped for the return of democracy back home," said Fazal Fazlin of St. Petersburg. Bhutto was a distant relative of his, and he met her at a party years ago. "There are a lot of people out there who seem to want a change, and she would have been an agent of change."

Shukria Nizami, a senior at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, is training to be an activist, defending the rights of women. Her family lives in Peshawar, Pakistan.

But now, she is chilled -- chilled by setbacks for Muslim women and for herself.

"She was one of the most brave and educated women in Pakistan, working for the rights of women in that country," said Nizami, 27. "This really kind of makes me scared because getting involved in politics, especially being a Muslim woman, it's not really an easy job."

At the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay Area Mosque, the news cast a cloud.

"It's not as alert as it usually is here," said Safia El-Kasaby, business manager at the mosque, who cried over Bhutto's death. "You can sense the sadness and confusion in all this."

Bhutto attended Harvard and Oxford universities. She was a Westernized young woman in blue jeans, an aspiring journalist who tried out to be an editor at the Crimson student newspaper, said Sydney P. Freedberg, a St. Petersburg Times reporter who graduated from Harvard a few years after Bhutto.

Everyone called her "Pinkie," Freedberg said -- she's listed that way in a school directory. Speculation had it that she earned the name for her liberal political views or because she was pink in color as a baby.

Bhutto made several appearances in Florida over the years. In March, she spoke to 868 people at Vero Beach Community Church. Employees there buzzed with shock Thursday.

"Her grace and her dignity, the way she carried herself -- it spoke a lot about who she was," said the Rev. Robert Baggott, 52, senior minister at the church. Her visit to the church was important, he said, because it showcased human differences and the idea that there are always choices.

"She didn't have to speak in order for you to know there was something very special about this woman," Baggott said.

Times researcher Angie Drobnic Holan contributed to this report. Stephanie Hayes can be reached at shayes@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8857.

[Last modified December 28, 2007, 01:25:39]