The Benazir Tomb is a prodigious white structure that stands majestically amidst vast expanses of wheat fields in the heart of rural Sind. Visible from miles, the tomb’s imposing sight greets zaaireen (the visitors) and wayfarers alike as they travel on the main thoroughfare from Larkana. Glistening brilliantly under the intense sun of upper Sind, the great arched domes of the monument seem to be counting days they can stand untarnished by effects of climate and dust: the heat seems to have bleached rest of the landscape of color, except for the lush green of the wheat fields.
The mausoleum is flanked on all sides by a huge courtyard spanning over several acres of land. The gardens though are limited only to narrow strips of it, the rest being paved and bricked like a huge parking lot. A grand wall borders it on all sides, and an entrance about thirty feet high is under construction to lead visitors to the main stairway. For now, the temporary entrance on the right of the tomb skews the perfect symmetry of the building. I visited it during early morning; the ample flood lights surrounding it tell of a scene of intense luminosity when fully powered during the starry night sky.
The Tomb has a square structure with one giant dome in the center and a smaller dome in each of the four quadrants. A terrace looks out from the first floor at each of the four corners. The mausoleum proper rests on the lowermost structure that acts as marble platform raised about twenty feet above the courtyard. The stairways ascend from the courtyards in front of a huge arched door framed in thick, polished wood, and set deep inside another arch twice as big. The base structure under the platform has several arched doors that were closed to visitors.
The arches are more oblong, borrowing probably from Persian architecture, and bordered in blue, in turn set inside a blue rectangular –the blue accentuating mid-Indus variation to this international structure. The domes are rather onion-shaped –one that features prominently in tombs of mystics and sufis on Sind, though devoid of any mosaic or patterns.
If the grandiosity of the original design is imposing, what happens at the hands of numerous ‘well-wishers’ is unfitting. Throughout the tomb, numerous larger-than-life sized posters of Benazir steal attention from the mesmerizing gaze. The posters are set into place by local high-ups and party officials. There are similar photos of her husband -the President –and her son. Political slogans mar the outside of the boundary walls too, though they do not make an appearance inside. Security is a mix of modern metal detectors and the tried and tested tricks of not letting bags inside –the emphasis was more on the latter.
Inside, the tomb did not have any feeling of holiness. Men, women and children freely walked hither and there and took photographs of different things. The low-pixel, humungous posters of BB seem all the more profane when directly opposite the final resting places of different people. I remained unsure about which grave belonged to who since the arrangement was haphazard and the labeling absent. One of the graves was encapsulated in a beautiful marble platform with several zaaireen making prayers, but the Sindhi inscription of ‘Shaheed Raanni Muhtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed’ was on the grave next to it. Further down, there was another with green LED lights on a stick with a green flag.
On the corridor leading up to the staircase for first floor were huge red panaflex posters showing photographs of the scores of PP workers who were martyred in different attacks. Walls on the inside were simple concrete with paint scraping out at several points. The floor was yet to be polished and there were several other signs of the under-construction status of the tomb. More zaaireen families were pouring in, but at 11 ‘o’ clock in the morning the security staff at the door was still unchallenged from his chair.
We walked out of the door with mixed feelings about what we just experienced. It wasn’t holy, and though the structure is impressive, the impression is far diluted when inside. May be if I had been a Sindhi, the elevation of this political leader to the seat of a saint may have seen more forthcoming, but right now I was more amenable to going outside into the stretched out fields than staying here and taking any more photographs.
The Tomb of Benazir Bhutto –Jewel of the Queen of Sind
