Adil Najam
News is just breaking that former Prime Minister and head of the Pakistan People’s Party, Benazir Bhutto was killed in Rawalpindi in a terrorist attack.
She was gunned down by an assasin who then blew himself up in a suicide attack. This happened at teh end of her rally in Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi; the same place where Liaqat Ali Khan, Pakistan’s first Prime Minister was assassinated. Major news networks are now reporting that following bomb blasts at Benazir Bhutto’s rally in Rawalpindi, shots were fired directly targeting her. Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari says that one of these shots hit her in the neck and killed her.
According to early BBC reports:
Pakistani former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been killed in a presumed suicide attack, a military spokesman has announced on TV. Earlier reports said Ms Bhutto had only been injured and taken to hospital.
Ms Bhutto had just addressed a pre-election rally in the town of Rawalpindi when the bomb went off. At least 15 other people are reported killed in the attack and several more were injured. Ms Bhutto had twice been the country’s prime minister. She was campaigning ahead of elections due in January.
‘She expired’
The explosion occurred close to an entrance gate of the park in Rawalpindi where Ms Bhutto had been speaking. Benazir Bhutto had been addressing rallies in many parts of Pakistan
PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar initially said that Ms Bhutto was safe. But later he told the BBC that Ms Bhutto had died. Another member of the PPP, Wasif Ali Khan, told the Associated Press news agency from the Rawalpindi General Hospital: “At 6:16 pm (1316 GMT) she expired.”
I, like most Pakistanis, am still too numb with shock and grief to think coherently about what has happened or what the implications of this are for teh country and for the world. But this I know, whether you agreed with her political positions or not you cannot but be in shock. Even as I type these lines I am literally shaking. Hers was a tragic life story. So tragic that had it not been real no one would have believed it.
At this point all sorts of thoughts float through the politics of this. Why did this happen? Why was it not stopped? What could have been done to stop this senseless murder? Maybe she should not have come back? Who did this? What will this mean for the elections? What will this mean for the PPP? What will this mean for Gen. Musharraf? What will this mean for Pakistan? But all of these are paled by thoughts about Benazir as a person. The woman. The wife. The mother. The human being. What about her?
I have not always agreed with her politically but there was always a respect for her political courage. I had met her many times, first as a journalist covering her when she had just returned to Pakistan in the Zia era and before she became Prime Minister. Later a number of times in her two stints as Prime Minister and thena few times during her exile. In that last period she toll to referring to me as “Professor sahib” and some of our exchanges were more candid (at least on my part) than they had been earlier.
At a human level this is a tragedy like no other. Only a few days ago I was mentioning to someone that the single most tragic person in all of Pakistan - maybe all the world - is Nusrat Bhutto. Benazir’s mother. Think about it. Her husband, killed. One son alledgedly poisoned. Another son assasinated. Daughter rises to be Prime Minister twice, but jailed, exiled, and finally gunned down.
Today, in shock, I can think only of Benazir Bhutto the human being. Tomorrow, maybe, I will think of politics.
As Adil aptly put it, this is not the day for politics. Yet horrendous event has occured in Pakistan which has never lacked for horrendous events. Whether the country survives this one remains to be seen.
The real human victims are the survivors, Nusrat and Sanam Bhutto foremost, her children and Asif Zardari. May God(SWT) Help them deal with this immense tragedy.
What a terrible loss for Pakistan and the world!
I don’t have words to express my outrage at this tragedy. May she rest in peace!
I just hope the cowards who carried out this heinous crime are uncovered and brought to justice (if anyone in Pakistan still knows what this word means).
I would also appeal to some of the folks here to show some decency in their comments and not bring up petty politics at this moment.
It is indeed a sad day for Pakistan.
Watch the raw footage of the blast here;
http://www.vidpk.com/view_video.php?vid=4855
Aitzaz also said: “A huge responsibility is now on Punjab. We must be in step with Sindh now. Sindh is burning. And if I were a Sindhi then I would also burn”.
Ominous words, no doubt. Some of us have been aware of the consequences of the ZAB’s assasination in the ethnically-influenced judicial murder. Crimes of such kind are forgotten easily. ZAB has lived on after his death. But BB’s death may just be the final nail in the coffin of Pakistan’s federation. You may not see the consequences right now but, unless carefully tackled, this can go too far.
But, no, “corruption, corruption, corruption….. American Agent. American Agent. American Agent…Greed for power. Greed for power. Greed for power…” While www.PakistaniDefenceForum.com has made me ashamed of being Pakistani for their callous remarks the short-sightedness of some people here–who don’t provide any alternatives either, by the way–is also saddening.
The name ‘Bhutto’ has been systametically tarnished since 1977 by very, very powerful forces in the country. But the fact that Bhuttos have been killed and jailed and maligned like no other. That just strengthens the notion that PPP remains(or can it anymore?) the most powerful anti-establishment party in Pakistan and now with BB’s murder that is no more either.
Adil sahab’s last sentence express the difficult to express feelings: “Today, in shock, I can think only of Benazir Bhutto the human being. Tomorrow, maybe, I will think of politics.”
I just want to add:
Inna Lillahi Wa Inna Ilayhi Raji’oon
NS is playing politics out of this by boycott of elections and starting movement against Mushraf. He is brain dead. Thats all I can say. Taking advantage of this incident for politics.
Just hearing Aitazaz Ahsan and him breaking down on Aaj TV. What we as a nation need to do at this point is to realize that this is a heinous crime, and come together as a country not divided amongst our ethnic boundaries (Punjabi, Sindhi etc). Thats what Bhutto would have wanted too