It isn’t just a blow to democracy but it raises serious doubts on credentials of security forces in Pakistan.
Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was killed in a gun and bomb attack after an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi on Thursday. Police said a suicide bomber fired shots at Bhutto as she was leaving the rally venue in a park before blowing himself up. “The man first fired at Bhutto’s vehicle. She ducked and then he blew himself up,” said police officer Mohammad Shahid. Police said 16 other people had been killed in the blast, but tv channels said at 20 persons were killed.“ A Reuters witness at the scene of the attack said he had heard two shots moments before the blast. Another Reuters witness saw bodies and a mutilated human head strewn on a road outside the park where she held her rally. People cried and hugged each other outside the hospital where she died and residents of Karachi, Bhutto’s home town, said they had heard gun shots after news of Bhutto’s death spread, apparently from her enraged supporters [Dawn]
Democracy wasn’t murdered today. The merchants of death decided to commit euthanasia. The death of Benazir comes as no surprise. As a matter of fact this tragedy hovered every tick of the clock. I think its time Pakistan drops few adjectives from its name: Islamic Republic of Pakistan to just Pakistan because there nothing Islamic about the country and plus ‘republic’ Pakistan is a laughing matter now.
Mr. dicktator has already made it clear that he wants to die as President of the country. Musharraf and his associates would never risk their lives by allowing democracy to even sprout in the country because that would put their own lives in danger. His lobby had strong reasons to Kill Mrs. Bhutto and making it look handiwork of extremists would have been an ideal ground to test their acquired skills from the US. There were chances of poll alliance between Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto for fighting against their common enemy. Under no circumstances Musharraf could have allowed this alliance to share a common dice and perhaps share power at the center because that would have jeopardized the power military has acquired under him. One of the major reason why democracy has never been successful in Pakistan is because the politicians have never been strong enough to control the army. The politicians have failed miserably in trying to control powers given to the army. Religion has played no part in unifying the army because Islam was never important to them. The boundaries of geography and sects seems to have demarcated hearts as well. In short they failed to use the force that was the major reason for the formation of that country.
The hands of Nawaz Sharif cannot be completely ignored as he too had his reason for her removal: He now is the only national level leader who has experience as a Prime Minister. He is now sure to take over as PM of Pakistan. The chances of this conspiracy are rare but you never know with these opportunistic and individualistic politicians.
The extremist are suspects as well. They might very well want to contest elections and capture the hot seat. This will give them free passport to cause more havoc under the name of Islamization.
Perhaps this mystery can never be resolved. Perhaps her death might just be indicative of escalation of already existing divides. Perhaps many more leaders will soon be making breaking news. There are so many reasons for violence in Pakistan than there are for peace; shia-sunni, deobandi-barelvi, religious-nonreligious, talibani-USe, pro-democarcy-anti-democracy etc etc. And when you have easy access to guns and rocket launchers, its only a matter of time before it self-destructs.
I pray for Benazir Bhutto’s soul. May Allah grant her Jannah, Ameen.
Sharique,
Yes, This is Musharraf. He can’t lose his power. He can’t afford to. And he wants to show to the world specially USA that without him the war on terror is nothing. He has done it.
may her soul rest in peace.
Sharique why have you ruled out US hand and no i am not been sarcastic.US is in major tussle with pak at the moment for control of drug routes.why cant be this be their job to put army at backfoot?
Its a moment of sadness for Pakistan and Sharique, for once, I find your piece a bit distasteful in calling it Najistan. Benazir for once seemed to have a greater vision than others in the Political scene and its a tragedy for everyone – including India and the US – who want to see a stable Pakistan. Only when Pakistan is able to deal with its terrorists will India and the US be safe from the Jihadists. After taking over Pakistan the next obvious target of Jihadists would be India. These semi-literate misguided fools have no option apart from becoming cannon fodder at the hands of the power crazy terrorists and need new targets everytime under their “Flag of Islam”.
US is more often a target of envy rather than for being “Satan” state. Very soon India would be too…..the obvious people to gain from this seems to be the Al Quaeda and the Taliban. Just that the beneficiaries see so obvious – shall we see Benazir acheived in her death what many could not achieve – to cause a wide spread condemnation of Islamist terrorists or would they get more bolder?
“Religion has played no part in unifying the army because Islam was never important to them. The boundaries of geography and sects seems to have demarcated hearts as well. In short they failed to use the force that was the major reason for the formation of that country.”
Sharique, by advocating this, you’re not doing them any favors. If they want a country that truly, and properly, represents that Mughal inheritance, they have to back off strident or political versions of religion. The problem in Pakistan is not a lack of Sharia law or a lack of Islam. This is such a common view amongst Indian Muslims that it gets frightening after a while.
Pretending that the lack of Islamic law is the problem in Pakistan plays directly into the hands of the extremists and Islamists. Accepting this as a truth means that all long-term legitimacy rests only with the advocates of Islamism, and that anyone who postulates or fights for something other than this is fighting against the true fate or meaning of Pakistan. And that’s why Benazir is dead today.
Rest in peace. All politicians in India or Pakistan are corrupt; none have her courage or charisma.
It is a sad day for Pakistan.
That country is now paying the price for allowing radical ideologues to take over the polity of their nation. They thought that as long as those ultras chanted the slogan of “islamic nation”, they could be treated with benign indifference. Afterall they were not asking for a separate nation! It is now for anyone to see what downward spirals can get created when radicalization of polity is not checked in time.
There is a lesson here for India and Indians who ignore the dangers of radicalization of politics in their home. Just because some radical groups do not ask for a separate nation, does not make them any less dangerous. Once their vicious ideology takes root in the masses, there is no returning back from disaster.
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The monster that Benazir herself created came back to destroy her. She created the Taliban. She fanned the fires of terrorism in Kashmir and created an elaborate setup within her country’s intelligence agencies to train, arm and finance terrorists. In the end, she was probably killed by a group that owed a lot to her.
Regardless of what she did and did not do, it is still a tragedy. Nobody deserves to lose his or her life in such a violent way. Besides the loss of Benazir herself is the uncertainty about that country that is left in the wake of her killing. These are tough times for Pakistan. I hope that we in India are not harmed by the fallout.
This woman along with Nasarullah Babar created Taliban, it was under her watch Kashmir went up in flames.
What a sad thing. may her soul rest in peace.
Worried abt the implications for India. the gereral, his secret friends – the ‘religious’ boys – nobody’s good news for us. even tho Benazeer had in the past happily spread terrorism in kashmir, she seemed to have become anti army – which is the real problem in pakistan. rem, the common factor in all the issues is the army – the bangladesh slaughter, kashmir, the role in punjab, jihadists, taliban, kargil and other wars etc etc.
Hi all,
Very much as I did for the events in Lebanon last summer I thought it would be awesome to get people around the world and in particular in Pakistan to share their views about what is happening there after the assassination of Bhutto. Please spread the word about the pages below where anyone can contribute their opinions, ask questions or just let the world know how you feel. We will not edit any content at the site so everything is unedited. It is a free, unedited, unmediated forum for everyone to give their side of the story and to tell the rest of the world about events that matter. If you choose to contribute via cellphone (SMS, MMS and email) use the following numbers: +45-609-91-0280; +61-427-22-9537; mms@allvoices.com (for images).
Please help me spread the word as a sincerely believe the only way to move beyond this endless violence is to promote dialogue between citizens across the globe. The future is the unedited dialogue between the citizens of the world so let us start this dialogue now.
Here is the event page for the tragic death of Benazir where you will find news stories, blogs, first hand accounts, videos and images about the assassination showing you all the angles of the event, please give us yours.
http://www.allvoices.com/benazir-bhutto-is-dead
A page with any content related to Benazir Bhutto including other parts she was part of. Let us know what your feelings are about her and her work.
http://www.allvoices.com/people/Benazir-Bhutto
( A more general presentation of allvoices is found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAM1y_Qb9Do )
Bests,
Erik Sundelof
Founder, http://www.allvoices.com
————————————————————
Blog: http://inthefieldonline.net/blog
May Benazir’s soul rest in peace.
Without any malice, a quote which comes to my mind “What you reap is what you sow”.
THIS ARTICLE IS PROBABLY THE WORST EVER ON THIS SITE! And It needs to be taken down.
You went too far by calling Pakistan Najistan! Please learn to differentiate between critiquing a country’s politics and criticizing that country.
It is sad. For all her warts, she was still better option for pakistan. I think, whatever is happening in pakistan is really sad, but again if paksitanis introspect they will find that they themselves are to be blamed for it. Why blame US or west ? Pakistan became a pawn in US hands on its own will so that it get money and arms to use against India.
Also islamists who are now threatening the very fabric of pakistan are creation of Pakistani leaders . The monster which was created to bleed India has turned against own master.
However sad it might sound, but the fact is that, make no mistake, Pakistan is undergoing a bloody civil war , a war which will decide future of Pakistan. Either it becomes a moderate, modern country or it turns into a medieval fundamentalist Islamic state. It is most dangerous place in work at this moment. President’s plane gets fired at with missiles, mosques are attacked by army, every other person is a lunatic ready to blow himself , Bhutto is killed, prayer meetings lead to bloody deaths…..phew….Looks like ghosts of all those who were killed by Pakistan’s venom (terrorism in India, Afganistan ..etc) are avenging it now. So much so for a country which aspire to become leading light of islam!!
First of all, I think we all pakistani are in deep shock on her tragic end but I just want to let the author that calling pakistan a najistan does not serve any good. You should have some other title which could have been more appropriate to the event where our nation
is already devastated.
India also has its history of killings of 1984 of late Mrs. Gandhi and also of Rajiv Gandhi so I can also say respond in a similar fashion.
I see this is an another consipracy to undermine the movement of change which is going on in the civil society these days where students, lawyers and professionals were standing up against the government excesses and as a Pakistani, i was sensing winds of change which I guess the indians are still unaware og it unless they follow the events after march last year.
This civil society movement forced the two big leaders to change their stance on the core issues.
I can see that extremism has roots in pakistan and in that instance that could be true but due to dynamics of pakistan where there are numerous other factors as well.
I am not sure how many of you knew that the uprising in balochistan were abetted by the indian agencies and there were hard evidence to it.
I see this a crucial turn in the great game that is being played in pakistan.
I am not sure if you know that even islamic extremists groups are not independent but a number of them have. Links to the neighboring countries.
These 2 interviews make interesting reading about Bhutto. Incidentally because of these interviews she was facing treason charges in Pakistan.
http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/sep/03inter.htm
http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/sep/04inter.htm
Abhishek,
Musharraf and US work hand in hand. US doing anything in seclusion seems highly unlikely.
Chirag,
I don’t agree with the statement that piousness leads to extremism. The fanatics get motivated by exhorting leaders who distort the religion for their own motive. From whatever I have head and read about the citizens in Pakistan, I have strong reasons to believe that they have swayed away from religion. This is more prominent in the rural belt because of lack of education and money. And this is precisely the reason why they are easy targets of leaders. Salman had an excellent post ‘understanding Islam and Muslims’ on the same topic.
Aliya and Shahran,
I can understand your frustration at being called filth but can’t help it…
The unabated and bold violence in the country gives me no indication of progress.
Shahran, The author’s intentions are not to hurt pakistanis at all. Bhutto’s death has been a shock for Indians as well. I think it is more to do with the filth that has acquired Pakistan. Hope you guys have the strength to deal with difficult times.
I am not sure if you are following the civil society resistance which is going on which I think is a glimmer of hope for the entire nation.
http://www.teeth.com.pk/blog/2007/12/26/hunger-strike-for-the-restoration-of-judiciary/
Check what is going on : http://pakistanmartiallaw.blogspot.com/2007_12_22_archive.html
http://pakistaniat.com/2007/11/11/emergency-in-pakistan-what-can-you-do/
I see all these as hope for Pakistan since for the first time after three decades, the middle and upper middleclass which so far avoided any confrontation with the establishment is standing up for justice which is really encouraging.
http://pakistaniat.com/2007/11/11/emergency-in-pakistan-what-can-you-do/
and
The true investigative report on the missing person case for which the Chief Justice was sacked.
http://missinginpakistan.wordpress.com/