"A Sense There Is Justice"

By Ross H. Munro and Edward W. Desmond

To her supporters, she is an avenging angel who promises to restore democracy. To opponents, she is impetuous, arrogant and inexperienced, a menace intent on undermining Islam and order. Angel or devil, Benazir Bhutto, 35, now holds the keys to the kingdom.

Nothing in her upbringing as the indulged eldest daughter of a wealthy landholding Sindhi family, or in her education at Harvard and Oxford, prepared her to shoulder her father's legacy so much as the trials she endured after his execution. Jailed or detained for more than five years, and exiled for two more, she returned triumphantly in 1986 as the leader of the Pakistan People's Party (p.p.p.). Deaf to criticism of her autocratic father, she seems determined to do what is necessary to restore his reputation. TIME correspondents Ross H. Munro and Edward W. Desmond spoke with her at home.

Q.People have called you arrogant.

A. Perhaps one mellows with age. It is good to have the idealism of youth. But there is a lot more pragmatism to life.

Q. You, your mother and your father-in-law are candidates for National Assembly seats. Why not your husband? A. Asif is making a sacrifice. For the sake of a harmonious

life, he determined to give up his own political constituency.

Q. We were struck by surprising words in your manifesto: deregulation, fair taxes, privatization.

A. Yes. We need money, technology, investment. We tried nationalization in the 1970s, but that led to tremendous polarization in society. We want to avoid that.

Q. Will the army let you reduce its power?

A. We should think of this as a country where the military is seeking any pretext to intervene. I would not like to provide the pretext.

Q. Where do you stand on Afghanistan?

A. We will abide by the agreements made by the Pakistani government.

Q. Would you halt all efforts to develop nuclear weapons?

A. We believe in a peaceful program for energy purposes and nothing else.

Q. You feel obliged to follow in your father's footsteps?

A. My father used to say politics is a passion. It's never been a passion for me ((but)) a sense of duty. In the worst moments, that sense did not allow me to become demoralized.

Q. Your autobiography shows how you felt about what Zia had done to your family.

A. The biggest challenge was overcoming bitterness. We don't believe in a politics of vindictiveness or persecution. History must know whether the end was the right end or not.

Q. How does it feel to have succeeded?

A. It is very much a sense that there is justice.