Massouda Jalal response to assassination of Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan

Email from Massouda Jalal, sent to me Jan. 4, 2008:

Benazir Bhutto was a hero, and her assassination is a great blow to the global women’s movement.  The terrible incident has stirred up fury but also great fear in many women’s right activists.

As for me, I’ve accepted the great risk to me and my family in my struggle to bring social justice through gender equality.

From the moment I decided to be President of Afghanistan, I knew that my desire was confined and threatened by a lack of security in a land that produces terrorism and fundamentalism.

For 7 years I’ve been fighting for leadership of Afghanistan with a fire to liberate Afghan women, and still I live--this is a surprise for me. Maybe my life has been spared by destiny.

If I lived for 150 years as a non-political person, safe from such risks it would not be a valuable and honored life.  I would rather be a woman leader, creating history, culture and honor for the oppressed half of our population--a number amounting to millions of human beings, and bring a positive change to their lives in order to get them free, liberated, empowered, and living as real equal citizens in society.

Then if I am assassinated for what I do, it will be for trying to liberate millions of human beings, it will mean eternal life. The  impact of goodness is something that remains forever and I will live eternally in knowing that my sacrifice will be honored by friends, family anyone that I may benefit.