KARACHI, Jan 4: Pakistan's troubled Bhutto family is caught in a fresh public row, a bitter custody battle for the daughter of Mir Murtaza Bhutto, the slain brother of ousted premier Benazir Bhutto.Centrestage are Murtaza's first wife Fauzia, the mother of 15-year old Fatima, and Murtaza's widow Ghinwa, the girl's guardian.
``She is my blood. She is my flesh,'' said Fauzia, who has returned here from her United States home to file a custody suit in court.
Fauzia, who has accused Ghinwa of kidnapping Fatima when she was three years old and ``brainwashing'' her, has vowed to win back her daughter ``at any cost.''
The first hearing of the custody case is expected this month.
Murtaza divorced Fauzia in 1985, after four years of marriage and married Ghinwa in 1988, while in exile in Syria. The couple lived there with Fatima until 1993, when Murtaza ended 16 year's of exile and returned to Pakistan.
The estranged brother of Benazir Bhutto was killed in a police shootout here in September 1996. Bhutto's
husband, Asif Ali Zardari, has been charged with complicity in the killing.
Fauzia, claiming Lebanese-born Ghinwa had prevented her reunion with Fatima, told reporters here she would not give up her struggle to secure her daughter. ``She was taken away from me for no fault of mine. I am her real mother and I want her at any cost,'' said Fauzia, 37, who works as a teacher in Los Angeles.
``It is up to Fatima whether she wants to stay with me in Pakistan or in America where I have very good family environment.''
Ghinwa, the natural mother of Murtaza's seven-year-old son Zulfikar Ali Jr, claims Fatima wants to remain with her.
``Nobody can brainwash (her) as she is a very intelligent girl and she is free to do her own will.''
Fatima has made no secret of the fact that she adores Ghinwa, saying: ``She has given me all the love.'' In a letter to Fauzia released to the press on Friday, Ghinwa urged her not to wage a public battle for the teenager.``Please spare Mir Murtaza's children the humiliation of
having their parents discussed in this frivolous and scandalous way in the columns of the press,'' Ghinwa wrote.
A spokesman for Ghinwa said Fatima ``is mature enough to decide whether she wants to live with Fauzia or with Ghinwa.''
Fauzia married Murtaza during his exile in 1981. Her sister Rehana married Murtaza's younger brother Shahnawaz around the same time. The Bhutto family suspected Rehana was involved leading to a rift between Murtaza and Fauzia. They divorced soon after.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
