Metaphors and the Politics of Nationhood in Bhutto’s If I Am Assassinated

This paper examines the conceptual metaphors used in Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s autobiographical writing If I Am Assassinated . This autobiographical testament is the response from the death cell of the Rawalpindi District Jail to the allegations of the military regime in the form of the White Paper which is perceived as an authoritative report by an organization. The legal cum political response was smuggled from the jail and published in India shortly before his execution. The qualitative study concentrates mainly on the nature and function of the conceptual metaphors in this dominantly political discourse. To address this issue, the concepts of conceptual metaphor developed by Lakoff and Johnsen (2003) has been used as theoretical base. Finally, the identification and interpretation of the metaphors have established that the trauma conveyed through conceptual metaphors affects the politics of nationhood. Particularly, such metaphors present Bhutto as a supra-subaltern character in Pakistani politics who fights to the end for democracy and nationalism.


INTRODUCTION
Pakistan will eat grass to produce the bomb.
-Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto The deliberate usage of metaphor is one of the common techniques in literary writing.However, Richards finds that "every three sentences in natural language uses a metaphor" (as cited in Zhang et al., 2020, p. 303).In this regard, metaphor is not only the property of literary writing but the habit of mind.As per the argument of Richards, a study by Steen et al. (2010) on different types of the text of 47,000 words reflects that on average, "one in every seven and a half lexical units in the corpus is related to metaphor defined as a potential cross-domain mapping in conceptual structure" (p.765).In a general sense, Miller (2006) believes that metaphors primarily involve grouping two or more things based on a shared characteristic and Thibodeau and Boroditsky (2011) talk about intricate and intangible ideas submerged in it.Thus, these arguments signify the omnipresence of metaphor; one can hardly escape the metaphor in human communication.In his autobiography, Bhutto is one of such communicators as indicated in the epigraph while talking about eating grass.
There is also a debatable question about whether metaphor is a linguistic or conceptual matter.According to Sullivan (2017), in language theories, "the metaphor was seen as a matter of language, not thought" (p.185).In literature, metaphor is a strong means of transmitting meaning in the sense that it supports the development of new thoughts.As for the legacy of conceptual metaphor, Miller (2006) claims that, in ancient times, "Aristotle also saw metaphor as providing a change in perspective, of telling us something new.It is not just a manner of words, it is about thoughts, new thoughts" (p.63).For those who engaged in the study of political communication, it is crucial to understand that effective policy metaphors can encapsulate the core ideas of a complex political debate and communicate concisely and innovatively (Hartman, 2012).Rather than just considering metaphor as a linguistic matter, Lakoff and Johnsen (2003) argued that the thought process of a human is metaphorically organized, adding that "metaphors as linguistic expressions are possible precisely because there are metaphors in a person's conceptual system" (p. 6).Therefore, "metaphor means metaphorical concept" (Lakoff & Johnsen, 2003, p. 6).In this paper, the insights related to conceptual metaphors have been used as a theoretical base for metaphorically interpreting Bhutto's If I Am Assassinated.In addition, such theoretical insight is appropriate as both "ontological and epistemic correspondences highlight the fact that conceptual metaphors can convey varied relations between source and target domains" (Gibbs, Jr, 2017a, p. 26).Particularly, in the case of writings by the politicians, "political metaphors work the same way when they move from the observable to the unobservable" (E.F. Miller, 1979, p. 166), surpassing the linguistic message and holding the conceptual meaning for any political discourse.
In politics, the "politicians use metaphors for positive self-representation and negative presentation of their political opponents attacking their ideas" (Lenard et al., 2017, p. 65).These writings also portray the socio-political as well as the emotional "as traumatic, catastrophic, and, in the popular imagination, a subject of unresolved angst" (Cook, 2001, p. 73).Correspondingly, E. F. Miller (1979) recalls the legacy of political metaphor as "Plato comes to speak in the Republic of man's relationship to the political community and the whole of being, he develops a great metaphor-the allegory of light that culminates in the parable of the cave" (p.168).The author provides readers with a hint of what may be unimaginable without the use of metaphors.Hence, metaphor is crucial in political investigation as it enables readers to expand their understanding from a familiar realm to an area that is not directly accessible through immediate experience (E.F. Miller, 1979).Therefore, unfolding metaphor is essential in interpreting a text which helps readers to understand a world beyond their immediate experience.
In regard to the metaphoric study of autobiographical writing, Olney takes autobiography itself as a "metaphor of self" (as cited in Starobinski, 1989, p. 276) as it reflects an image of the author in a narrative structure representing the complexities of individual identity and lived experiences.In contrast, Hartman (2017) clarifies the concept of the metaphor "life is a journey" (p.279) not just as a movement around different places but also as varied experiences of one's life full of 'ups' and 'downs.'For instance, a metaphor like 'life is a journey' suggests that one's existence involves a continuous exploration, meeting new individuals, and navigating through diverse experiences, while alternative metaphors like 'life is a roller coaster' or 'life is a jungle' convey the varied nature of exhilarating and challenging moments or the struggle for survival.Therefore, this study supports an expansion of human knowledge about the indescribable world by unfolding metaphors.
Many politicians frequently participate in autobiographical writing as a method of political communication.In this case, this study aims to examine the politics of metaphor in the autobiographical writing If I Am Assassinated by Bhutto.The legalpolitical document was narrated on the eve of his execution.Primarily, the writing as a legal document, was submitted to the Supreme Court of Pakistan for a subsequent appeal against the controversial decision of capital punishment declared by the Lahore High Court on March 18, 1978.However, the Supreme Court rejected the petition to lift the death sentence on March 24, 1979.The writing was smuggled and published from India as a political text shortly before his execution of capital punishment on April 4, 1979.In this paper, Bhutto's autobiography is considered a political text, attempting to answer the following two questions: What are the predominant source-domain categories of conceptual metaphor employed by Bhutto in If I Am Assassinated?What functions does the conceptual metaphor serve in autobiographical writing?Thus, the paper attempts to identify the politics of autobiographical writing, exploring the author's cognitive understanding by decoding the conceptual metaphors in the text.

CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS IN LITERARY TEXTS
Metaphor is no longer a figure of speech only.Metaphoric comparison is seen as the cognitive feature that establishes a relationship that leads metaphoric inquiry to conceptual knowledge between source-domain categories.Here, only the linguistic understanding seems insufficient for decoding the metaphor and "metaphorical meaning is, therefore, a conceptualization that is shaped by the cognitive highlighting of particular components in the conceptual structure of the target and by utilization of particular components in that of the source" (Vakhovska, 2017, p. 100).In this way, many cognitive linguists argue that the utilization of metaphor is influenced by unconscious metaphoric messages that shape human notions.Nevertheless, metaphors are not always consistent in representing cognitive concepts as "metaphors in discourse sometimes seem to stick out like a sore thumb, metaphors in the mind are far harder to find" (McGlone, 2007, p. 123).It is also relative to the understanding level of the communicator and audience.Lakoff and Johnsen (2003) clarify the conceptual aspects of metaphor that "every experience takes place within a vast background of cultural presuppositions" (p.57).According to them, the metaphoric concepts also appear there whenever one discusses metaphor in the cognitive process.They have categorized the conceptual metaphor into three types: structural, orientational, and ontological.Structural metaphors refer to instances where one notion is figuratively organized using the framework of another concept like "argument is war" (p.77).Typically, abstract and intricate ideas are explained using the concrete concepts.But there is another concept of orientational metaphors where one that does not structure one concept in terms of another but instead organizes a whole system of concepts concerning one another.As for Lakoff and Johnsen (2003), most of them have to do with spatial orientation: "up-down, in-out, front-back, on-off, deep-shallow, central-peripheral" (p. 14) like in the metaphors "happy is up" and "sad is down" (p.15).Lakoff and Johnsen (2003) further claim, "our experiences with physical objects (especially our own bodies) provide the basis for an extraordinarily wide variety of ontological metaphors, that is, ways of viewing events, activities, emotions, ideas, etc., as entities and substances" (p.25).In the ontological metaphor, thus, one conceptualizes the experience in the forms of concrete substances as in the metaphors like 'mind is a machine' and 'the mind is a brittle object' (Lakoff & Johnsen, 2003, pp. 27-28).In this way, abstractions are represented in the form of something concrete.They have also blurred their categorization and claimed that "all metaphors are structural (in that they map structures to structures); all are ontological (in that they create target do-main entities); and many are orientational (in that they map orientational image-schemas)" (p.265).In this sense, one category of conceptual metaphor is fundamental to others.
Due to the fundamental nature of the conceptual metaphor, it deserves more rationality in decoding abstract concepts, and "verbal metaphors are merely surface-level manifestations of underlying conceptual metaphors is most clear with metaphors that map abstract concepts onto direct physical experiences" (Merskin, 2020, p. 32) whereas conceptual metaphor theorizes "a particular concept in terms of another, thus enabling us to understand some abstract concepts easily and clearly" (Antil & Verma, 2020, p. 213).In comparison to verbal metaphors, conceptual metaphors are more relevant to explain political reality as "politics is also abstract and complicated, and by employing metaphors; politicians make these abstract political concepts more concrete to people so that they can understand and accept them easily" (Antil & Verma, 2020, p. 213).In connection with Lakoff and Johnson's definition, Silver (1982) explains that metaphors are not just widespread in language but also play a crucial role in shaping the conceptual frameworks, attitudes, behaviors, and eventually, the very realities we experience.Therefore, according to Antil and Verma (2020), "People can conceptualize a particular concept in terms of another, thus enabling us to understand some abstract concepts easily and clearly" (p.213) through conceptual metaphors.It is the same in the case of politics that the "politicians make these abstract political concepts more concrete to people so that they can understand and accept them easily" (Antil & Verma, 2020, p. 213).In this way, conceptual metaphors are used in political communication.
In this discussion, various historical, cultural, and cognitive factors contribute to metaphorical thinking.For instance, Gibbs, Jr. (2017b) explains that "conceptual metaphors specifically incorporate rich socio-cultural, embodied knowledge which shapes people's sensitive, in-the-moment metaphorical actions" (p.167).Similarly, in the words of Carmack and DeGroot (2018), "metaphors 'prefigure' or shape experiences of the world, and when used together, create a metaphor system to explain certain concepts" (p.479).These are applied in the case of politics that the politicians used to speak and write to build such images.In the words of Antil and Verma (2020), "Political image management plays a crucial role in today's changing times.Speeches which address a large, general audience need to be more 'catchy' to appeal to most people" (p.223).In this sense, the insertion of metaphor can be a strategy for such an appealing political presentation, and "the study of metaphor offers an opportunity to enrich our descriptive understanding of the political cognition of citizens" (Bougher, 2012, p. 145).This means that the cognition of citizens can be considered the cognition of the audience.
The concept of conceptual metaphor as discussed by Lakoff and Johnsen ( 2003) is used as a theoretical base for interpreting this judgmentally selected autobiographical text.The text was narrated in a traumatic setting on the eve of the execution in the last quarter of the twentieth century in Pakistan.Simply, the "essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another" (p.5).The theorists have categorized conceptual metaphors into three basic types: orientational, ontological, and structural.According to them, structural metaphors include symbolically organizing one thought around another, but orientational metaphors do not.They organize a system of connected ideas.Most involve spatial orientation ideas like verticalhorizontal, inward-outward, anterior-posterior, activated-deactivated, profoundsuperficial, and central-peripheral.Moreover, in their understanding, the ontological metaphor involves conceptualizing the experience by representing it as concrete entities, such as in the metaphors "the mind is a machine" and "the mind is a brittle object" (pp.27-28).However, one form of the metaphor cannot independently exist in the absence of others in the process of identifying and interpreting the politics of metaphors.
In a political context, the "use of conceptual metaphors makes it possible to point out that part of the target domain to which one wants to direct the attention of the recipient.Leading politicians should know how the nation 'breathes' and the language should match the powers that they have and their positions" (Borčić et al., 2016, p. 87).Only in the case of appropriate matching, there is a transfer of meaning in communication.In this paper, it is firmly realized that "it is admittedly difficult to distinguish values inherent in selecting the metaphor as such, and the researcher must be aware of the possibility of an inherent bias" (Manhas & Oberle, 2015, p. 47).The theoretical framework mentioned above supports the claim made in this paper in minimizing the potential biases.However, one can hardly eradicate them in the qualitative interpretation of a text in a constructivist paradigm.In this way, the theoretical insights of Lakoff and Johnsen (2003) on conceptual metaphors have been applied in this study in responding to the research questions.

INTERPRETATION I: CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS IN BHUTTO'S WRITING
The autobiographical writing of Bhutto was written as a rejoinder to the Supreme Court of Pakistan, particularly in responding to the White Papers on the alleged rigging of the election, instructing to murder and misusing news media in traumatic death cell with limited resources needed to defend oneself against the death sentence.According to Borčić et al. (2016), "Successful politicians have to be informative but at the same time persuasive" (p.79).Bhutto seems to have both qualities in the text while narrating this political memory.
The Chief Martial Law Administrator called Bhutto a new Machiavelli (as cited in Bhutto, 1979).The metaphor of Bhutto as a modern Machiavelli implies that Bhutto used Machiavellian tactics to achieve power.Machiavelli himself was also known for using metaphors.His "metaphor of the fox and the lion can be articulated as the assertion that successful rule depends on the right combinations of cleverness and courage" (E.F. Miller, 1979, p. 167).If Bhutto denies the allegations, the metaphor may suggest that the Regime exaggerates or inappropriately compares him to Machiavelli.While responding to the White Papers, Bhutto (1979) disputes the Lahore High Court and Supreme Court's death penalty verdicts.He says, "In the language of the law, the blue pencil has been applied; in the language of justice, a travesty has been committed" (p.37).This statement uses the idea of 'editing the legal action'.In this metaphor, the legal proceedings which are applied in the case of Bhutto are manipulated by editing.Specifically, a blue pencil is compared to a travesty which suggests that using the blue pencil, typically associated with editing or correction, is akin to committing a serious and absurd mistake or distortion in a manner reminiscent of a travesty.However, the similarities emerge due to conceptual metaphors and should therefore be seen as similarities in terms of interactional features related to cognitive understanding among the source and target domains (Lakoff & Johnsen, 2003).These are some of the instances that show Bhutto's dissatisfaction with the court proceedings.
Interestingly, Bhutto (1979) defines himself and his philosophy regarding the bottom-line people of the pyramid in society saying that "this was my litmus test, the only guiding factor: who was the friend of the poor of our country and hard working.The friend of the poor is my friend and my brother.The enemy of the poor is my mortal enemy" (p.45).Here, Bhutto identifies himself with working-class disadvantaged people.He does this to represent the poor, not the elites.Associating himself with a poor community, Bhutto figuratively attacks the contemporary ruling class.Thus, political discourse becomes more emotional and moral when family terms like 'friend,' 'brother,' and 'mortal enemy' are used.According to Lakoff and Johnsen's (2003) categorization of metaphors, ontological metaphors project physical entities from source to target domains.In this case, in combatting poverty, 'poverty' is objectified as an enemy (Qasim & Yasir, 2020) using the cognitive quality of poverty in terms of a corporeal adversary.
There are many politicians who consider politics as an art.One of them is Bhutto (1979) who states, "Politics is the finest art and the most creative profession" (p.46).It adopts a 'politics as art' paradigm.It shows that politics needs skill, creativity, and finesse like art.This comparison suggests that effective politicians, like artists, must handle difficult situations, balance competing interests, and create compelling tales.The White Papers also alleged Bhutto for taking "elections as some kind of a war against the Opposition" (Bhutto, 1979, p. 46).The metaphor such as 'election is war' is a popular form of war metaphor."All over the world, political leaders use such expressions of speech in statements to galvanize and motivate political processes" (Bhutto, 1979, p. 46).This statement uses the structural metaphor like 'elections as war'.It suggests intense competitiveness, strategic maneuvering, and battle-like antagonistic dynamics.It may be used to signify that the political parties fight a war and mobilize the resources in election times.According to Abdel-Qader and Al-Khanji (2022), the use of war metaphors beyond actual fighting battles expands its scope in diverse aspects of life.
In Bhutto's writing, lots of metaphors can be identified for analysis.For instance, Bhutto (1979) is surprised by the White Papers which project "the Chief Election Commissioner a puppet and the Election Commission … handmaiden" (p.55).This metaphor characterizes the Chief Election Commissioner as a puppet and the Election Commission as a handmaiden, suggesting a perceived lack of autonomy and independence, with the implication that external forces or influences manipulate and control the decisions and actions of the election authority.Bhutto (1979) further writes that "the responsibility of the Chief Election Commissioner on all issues relating to elections is like the responsibility of a Supreme Commander on matters of war and peace" (p.61).It compares the Chief Election Commissioner with the Supreme Commander using a structural metaphor.The metaphor stresses the Chief Election Commissioner's role, power, and influence in electoral matters by equating election duties to those of a Supreme Commander in war and peace.The opposition leaders are rarely appreciated and frequently attacked in politics.Bhutto (1979) also believes that "the opposition comprised a motley lot; a strange mixture of odd creatures.It was a genuine example of zero, plus zero equals zero" (p.119).The subsequent metaphor 'a genuine example of zero, plus zero equals zero' suggests that the combined effectiveness of the opposition is equivalent to zero, emphasizing their perceived inability to pose a significant challenge.A conceptual metaphor as a cognitive tool organizes information by relating the next domain of experience to the first.Among such conceptual metaphors, orientational metaphors, according to Thu (2019), "organize immaterial concepts in terms of physical orientation: happiness is up (high spirits) and sadness is down (feeling low), the future is ahead and the past behind" (p.187).Against the backdrop of the hostility between Bhutto and the military regime, this metaphor serves as a rhetorical strategy to diminish the credibility and efficacy of the opposition.Bhutto (1979) also writes a message, 'Do not Support,' to his friend Syed Zafar Ali Shah where rebutting the charges of opponents, he writes about his friend that "he was madly in love with a beautiful Canadian.His fragile and charming personality reminds me of the finest flowers of the desert" (pp.67-68).Here, Bhutto compares the personality of his friend to a metaphor like 'the best flowers of the desert'.A 'fragile' person is delicate and possibly sensitive, while a 'charming' person is appealing and pleasant.The metaphor like 'desert settings' suggests rarity and beauty.In this case, structural metaphors include the realization of one notion through the use of another.For instance, such metaphors include 'life is a journey' and 'time is money' (Borčić et al., 2016).Bhutto looks to link himself to the positive soles of society in blossom form.Similarly, the military regime is presented as a desert where there seems no space for democracy.
In Bhutto's (1979) understanding, the evidence presented through the White Papers is no evidence.In his autobiography, he narrates the incident in a sarcastic way: Funnily enough, the same methods have been used to prove rigging in the election of Yahya Bakhtiar as were employed in the trial against me in the Lahore High Court.The prosecution witnesses and evidence common in both 'cases' are (i) Mr. Telephone, (ii) Hearsay evidence, and (iii) Bureaucrats.(p.115) All these are ontological metaphors where "events and actions are conceptualized metaphorically as objects, activities as sub-stances, states as containers" (Lakoff & Johnsen, 2003, p. 30).In this metaphorical context, the conceptual metaphor theory, which questions reason, explains this analysis.Telephonic interactions and hearsay simulate a distorted communication network that may jeopardize content accuracy leading to skepticism and prejudice.
Against the democratic norms and values, the military regime was involved in politics time and again in Pakistan.According to Bhutto (1979), "The Army was in politics up to its neck" (p.129).This metaphor views a political involvement as bodily immersion.The metaphor emphasizes that the military is up to its neck in Pakistani politics, its involvement is profound, ubiquitous, and all-encompassing.A metaphor like 'the Army was in politics up to its neck" is an orientational metaphor that "give[s] a concept a spatial orientation; for example, happy is up" (Lakoff & Johnsen, 2003, p. 15).Such metaphorical orientations are neither collective nor random, but cultural.
As the democratic and constitutional alternative to the military regime, Bhutto (1979) advocates the representative politics.For him, therefore, "civilization means civilian supremacy.Military coup d'états are a disaster" (p.135).In Pakistani politics, the metaphor emphasizes the civilian rule and the bad effects of Military interventions, as seen by the word 'disaster' about military coup d'états.The structural metaphor dreams of an ideal political society.Generally, every structural metaphor maintains internal consistency and enforces a consistent framework on the subject it represents (Lakoff & Johnsen, 2003).Moreover, the military of Pakistan has repeatedly been involved in politics interfering the democratic practices.In this regard, Bhutto (1979) narrates, "This third Martial Law carried with it the cancerous legacies of the previous Martial Laws.In addition, it has developed a gangrene of its own" (p.125).The metaphorical framework contains 'Martial Law and military regime as disease'.Martial law is compared to political cancer in Pakistan, implying that it is toxic, aggressive, and harmful to the nation as Malan (2012) conceptualizes racism in the form of a disease and reconciliation in the form of healing.Here, democracy becomes healing.Such "disaster metaphors, ranging from war to apocalypse, under-score participants' concern and fear for what comes next" (Carmack & DeGroot, 2018, p. 8).In the introduction of the text also, Paran Chopra metaphorically said that Bhutto had a single "antidote to the cancer of martial law: he had the backing of the people" (as cited in Bhutto, 1979, p. 25).In politics, only the people's vote prevents such a takeover.
The military regime is always the target of Bhutto's writing.He repeatedly counters the military regime using multiple metaphors.In the following lines, Bhutto (1979) explains: A Regime that can suspend or abrogate the constitution and run the country on its whims and caprice should be ashamed of bringing to its lips the word 'law'.It is like prescribing a punishment for adultery after raping the country.It is like saying that the Holy Quran is suspended but nobody can escape from the Hades.(p.126) Arguing about the rule of law and suspending a constitution for a whimsically ruled nation is like punishing an adulterer who rapes the motherland.Analogously, constitutional abrogation is like punishing adultery after raping the nation.The metaphor of 'raping the country' personifies the nation as a person that can be raped and destroyed.In addition, the analogical comparison attempts "to attend to these unexpressed properties and fill them in at the appropriate slots of the incomplete comparison statement" (Steen, 1995, p. 68).The comparison in this case elaborates Bhutto's criticism more passionately by portraying the constitution's suspension as immoral and sacrilegious as well as a legal and political violation in the forms of analogy.

INTEPRETATION II: BHUTTO'S POLITICS OF NATIONHOOD
In his writing, Bhutto is a nationalist who does not validate any undemocratic practices.For instance, Bhutto (1979) describes the situation of Pakistan reflecting on the secession of Bangladesh.According to him, "the historical tragedies arising out of Military rule meant nothing to power blind individuals.The flow of blood was like water down a duck's back.The blunders of military regimes, both internal and external, were not eye-openers" (p.136).The political myopia in the form of cope-gemony disregards the value of life and humanity.This can be understood as 'political consequences as water flowing on a surface'.The flow of blood, symbolizing the human suffering and tragedies resulting from the military regime, is metaphorically equated to water running off a duck's back.The comparison between the flow of blood and the water down a duck's back is an expression of frustration as E. F. Miller (1979) believes that the conceptual metaphor is fundamental to political inquiry for deriving emotional inferences from the frequent association of dissimilar items.It criticizes the regime's indifference to human suffering.Bhutto (1979) believes that "appetite for aggrandizement, the unquenchable thirst for naked power can become a habit-forming drug.It can bring hallucinations of civil war" (p.137).It seems that power corrupts everyone.The metaphor includes 'appetite for power as drug addiction'.Like a heroin addiction, a continual yearning for power can become habitual.In the second metaphor, 'hallucinations of civil war,' powerseeking is dangerous.The phrase 'hallucinations' denotes distorted views or erroneous beliefs, suggesting that unchecked power may warp politics and produce civil war.An ontological metaphor maps one's experience to concrete entities (Lakoff & Johnsen, 2003).These metaphors vividly depict the dangers of power addiction.
Once the phrase Idhar Hum Udhar tum (You in East Pakistan and We in West Pakistan) was a disputable statement in Pakistani politics.However, Bhutto (1979) contextually accepts it as he explains: This is the meaning of "Idhar Hum Udhar tum," an expression I did not use in that distorted form; but it has come out to be true.There, the Bengalis were given hell and here we are being given hell.Over there the Bengali politicians were not fit to rule.Over here we are not fit to rule.Democracy was unworkable in Bengal.Democracy is unworkable here.Over there, the masses had to be exploited by Big Business and over here our masses have to be exploited by Big Business.(p.150) Bhutto metaphorically accepts the military regime's accusation.Using the spatial metaphor of nations or regions, in which 'idhar' denotes West Pakistan and 'udhar' East Pakistan.Metaphorically spatializing the nation emphasizes a separation.Bhutto sees West Pakistan ('hum' or 'us') as dominant and East Pakistan ('tum' or 'you') as submissive.Matching the remarks hurt Bengalis and Pakistanis.Local Bengali politicians governed poorly.Pakistani governance skills are poor.Conceptual metaphors link the logical language frames using a time-space semantic structure (Lakoff & Johnsen, 2003).In this way, Pakistan and Bangladesh share the same hardship and instability.
Bhutto also uses the structural metaphor in his writing.For instance, Bhutto (1979) blamed the Junta, anti-Bhutto alliance in Pakistan, including the military rulers, that the people of Pakistan were emotional and illiterate and warned the opposition saying, "We do not think that the people are children who can be led by a Pied Piper or that they are lambs driven into the slaughterhouse" (p.155).The military dictator as the 'Pied Piper' may influence and deceive the populace for their profit.The military dictator in the Pied Piper story symbolizes the danger of blindly following charismatic leaders.Thus, the structural metaphor involves framing one thing or experience in terms of another while preserving its natural aspects (Lakoff & Johnsen, 2003).Finally, the metaphor highlights the dangers and negative outcomes of challenging military government leadership.Bhutto (1979) coined the term 'coup-gemony' as a warning: The Military coup d'états are the worst enemies of national unity.Coup d'états divides and debases a free people.If there was any doubt on the subject, the events in Pakistan have shown that the people of the Third World have to primarily guard against the internal enemy, if foreign domination or hegemony is to be resisted.Coup-gemony is the bridge over which hegemony walks to stalk our lands.(p.175) Metaphorically, internal coup-gemony matches external hegemony.The metaphor argues that coups affect politics like internal colonization, where one group rules another within a nation.Political coups symbolize colonialism's oppression and exploitation.Lakoff and Johnsen (2003) argue that "Perhaps the most obvious ontological metaphors are those where the physical object is further specified as being a person" (p.33) in the form of coup-gemony.
Most politicians endure unfavorable political conditions.Bhutto (1979) has endured all allegations as he first confesses himself saying, "Let all the White Papers come " (p. 197).But he confidently resists, saying that "I would not have bothered to reply to the tissue of lies contained in this disgusting document " (p. 197).He called the military regime's White Papers a tissue of lies.Conceptually, it views 'information as fabric'.This metaphor implies that the White Papers' information is incorrect and carefully constructed like a fabric, implying deliberate deception.In the case of structural metaphor, the source domain (tissues of lies) provides rich knowledge for the target domain (White Papers).The target domain is comprehended by the structures that are transferred from the source domain (Qasim & Yasir, 2020).Bhutto uses such a metaphor to show the dishonesty of the military regime.His criticism is strengthened by this metaphor, which emphasizes the systematic and intentional misrepresentation of material facts by the White Papers.Again, Bhutto (1979) compares the White Papers to fiction and refers to multiple popular figures' attempts to show how the ink of authority can be misused to fabricate history as he writes: However, if they want to make a literal interpretation of Napoleon's remarks that history is a fable, in that event, this White Paper is the feeblest of all fables.It would have been more appropriate if the White Paper had quoted Karl Marx when he said that history is written behind the backs of people.The White Paper has been released behind my back.It could not have come out otherwise.(p.

217)
The White Paper, which is supposed to be accurate, is metaphorically compared to a fable, a basic story.Bhutto calls the 'White Papers' the 'feeblest of all fables' to convey that the military regime's narrative against Bhutto is weak, unconvincing, and unreliable.However, the structural metaphor contains ontological metaphors as its subparts and to understand a situation using ontological metaphors there imposes a structural entity (Lakoff & Johnsen, 2003).Here, the word 'fables,' usually used for moral teachings or metaphorical tales, is used to attack the narrative of the military regime against Bhutto that lacks credibility, strength, and legitimacy.
Despite all unfavorable political conditions, Bhutto (1979) presents himself as an advocate of open trial, at least in the case of the death penalty.In so doing, he can utilize the court hearing as an opportunity to collect empathy.Here, he emphasizes: Prophet Moses preached it to his people during their long journey from tyranny.that open trial principles and values, especially when dealing with the death penalty, are prominently and enduringly inscribed, like significant knowledge or wisdom in enormous, or golden letters.The references to Prophet Moses, Christ's Sermon on the Mount, and the Last Messenger of God emphasize the universality and timeless concepts of nature, using cultural and religious imagery to show that historical figures and thinkers revered and enduringly advocated open trials for justice.In the record of Baxter (1985), "The Ziaul Huq government, however, has placed severe restrictions on the free operation of the court system, such as ending writ jurisdiction, which curtails freedom" (p.314).Thus, the metaphorical relationship between justice systems opens several trials in human culture.
Throughout his autobiographical writing, Bhutto (1979) leaves no single stone unturned to show himself as a confident and selfless Pakistani.He warns General Zia, as he says, "More than votes are at stake.More than my life is at stake.Make no mistake about it, the future of Pakistan is at stake" (p.200).The rhetoric 'at stake' implies that the outcome is vital, as the high stakes in a game with big wins or losses.Bhutto uses this metaphor to stress the gravity of the issue and urge people to consider the potential implications on the destiny of a nation.While metaphorically discussing nationhood, Bhutto (1979) believes that "Nations rise and fall, as the sun rises and sets" (p.217).This conceptual metaphor in the form of 'nations as living entities' or 'nations have life cycles' maps abstract and sophisticated ideas about the destiny of a nation onto the more concrete and everyday experience of the daily cycle of the sun.The nature of the nation as a container metaphor implies that "the more the inside surface of a container is covered, the more content the argument has" (Gibbs, Jr, 2017a, p. 22).The statement illustrates a nation's dynamic and cyclical character by comparison.
In regard to his politics of nationhood, Bhutto (1979) alerts people signaling that their nation may fail forgetting her civilization.He believes, "Pakistan has been turned into an 'Animal Farm' and its wretched and God-forsaken people into dirty animals" (p.232).The philosophical metaphor may be the nation as a farm or people as unclean animals.Orwell's (2004) allegorical novella Animal Farm may imply a similarity between Pakistan's political dynamics and its satire of power conflicts and corruption.In the process of shifting from a linguistic metaphor to a cognitive one, in the words of Steen (1995), "the incomplete nonliteral comparison statement is turned into a full-blown nonliteral analogy" (p.68) created by Bhutto comparing Pakistan and Animal Farm.Khalid et al. (2023) also considers "Animal Farm, as a universally applicable political allegory, has the potential to shed light on the complexities of the political systems worldwide" (p.1443) normally that was imposed to indicate subalternation as performed by the military regime in Pakistan over people.
The discussion above indicates that Bhutto's autobiography uses conceptual metaphors for political purposes to portray himself as an artful nationalist leader and the military administration as a power-monger.In particular, he conveys trauma through metaphors that perform the nationhood politics.

CONCLUSION
In his autobiographical writing, Bhutto narrates his trauma presenting himself as a supra-subaltern statesman who suffers much for democracy and nationhood of Pakistan.The traumatic experiences that are transmitted from the death cell in the form of conceptual metaphors in his autobiographical writing If I Am Assassinated particularly present his nation as an animal farm at the time of the military regime.Through the discussion of identified conceptual metaphors, most of the time, he presents the military regime as a conspirator, who has mastery in manipulating the material facts, defaming government institutions, downsizing opposition, and confining the people's leader to the death cell.His metaphors project himself as an idol leader, a transparent politician, and a companion of the poor who is subjected to suffer because of being a popular democratic and nationalist statesman.In the similar way, the victimization and subalternation are metaphorically compared to internal colonialism by Bhutto using the word 'coupgemony.'Mostly the structural metaphors used in his writing compare his popular politics and the coup-gemony of the military regime.Thus, people's disillusionment with Pied Piper is a necessary condition for preventing society from being Animal Farm.In general, such the application of conceptual metaphors in literary texts also helps readers to understand the cognitive faculty of people.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
I declare that this manuscript is originally produced by me.
The same message is contained in Christ's Sermon on the Mount.The last and final Messenger of God dispensed justice in an open mosque and not as a 'cloistered virtue.'The Roman slave, Spartacus, gave his life for justice.(p.197) The political and legal struggle for 'an open trial' is recorded in 'golden letters.'This metaphor argues