Adil Najam
Benazir Bhutto, twice Prime Minister of Pakistan, now lies under six feet of earth in Garhi Khuda Bux, her ancestral village, in a grave next to her equally mercurial father, the late Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
As the graphic above (click to enlarge) from Boston Globe shows, hers - like her father’s - was a brilliant but tragic life. Tragically ended.
Now she is buried. But I suspect that the Benazir saga is far from over. Indeed, just as all of Pakistan’s politics after Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s hanging was contextualized by his hanging, all of Pakistan’s politics after Benazir’s assasination is likely to be contextualized by Benazir’s assasination.
In the immediate aftermath of this tragic death, the country continues to reel in grief at what has happened, fear about what might happened, and immense immense anger and everything that has been happening. As I argued in an op-ed in the New York Daily News today, this mix of grief, anger and fear is a very dangerous combination. It cannot lead to any good.
Right now the scenes we see on our screens are of mayhem, of devastation, of further violence, of destruction. These are not good images for Pakistan and certainly these are not the Benazir Bhutto would have wanted as her legacy. We at ATP have written many many times about the climate of anger that defines modern Pakistan (here here, here, here, here, etc.). This anger is the single most disturbing and single most defining motif of today’s Pakistan. Right now - and not without reason - the anger is being directed at Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf’s government. Much of this should, but not in this way.
More important to note is who the anger is not being directed at. I hope that the legacy of Benazir Bhutto’s untimely and tragic death is a legacy of a society that seizes this moment to reassert its demand for democracy and to recognize that extremist violence is our problem. This is not a mercenary war. This is Pakistan’s own battle. Right now the evidence suggests that society continues to tear at its own self. I fear that it will not change anytime soon. That things are likely to get worse before they become any better. But, I refuse to give up hope. At least, not yet.
As I wrote in my New York Daily News op-ed:
If this moment ends up being defined by Pakistan’s latent anger - if it launches a cycle of crackdowns and protests - it will certainly empower and embolden the militants further. But if it is defined by society’s sense of shared loss, felt grief and the continued movement toward genuine democracy, it might - just might - bring together a fractured society and awaken in them the realization that the common enemies are extremism, violence and terrorism. Then, we might just have half a chance of winning this war on terror. And Benazir Bhutto’s death would not have been in vain.
I think PPP CWC would declare Benazir the Chairman for ever and elect a new person, a non-Bhutto, as the leader of the party and might create a new post for him/her, like the Quaid or something.
PROF. NAJAM, I HEARD YOU ON ALL THINGS CONSIDERED ON THE RADIO ON MY WAY BACK FROM WORK. THIS WAS EXCELLENT ANALYSIS. THANK YOU FOR IT.
I HEARD YOU ON THE COMPUTER AGAIN AFTER COMING HOME. HERE:
http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.ht ml?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=17680938&m=1768090 2
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story Id=17680938&ft=1&f=1004
I believe that the elections should be held as scheduled. We know they are not fully but if not held then I think Musharraf will never hold them and we will go further back.
Yes, its the moment of grief but also important time of decision. Will PPP finally introduce democracy inside itself or will continue to clutch on the density of Bhutto? Unfortunately even some western observers were talking about her children to be too small to lead party.
Today our hands are full of ashes as it were when Bhutto was hanged, will this time we make different decision and convert Peoples Party into true Peoples party? or will we continue to harbor our hopes into larger than life leaders
Maybe you should do post on whether election should be postponed or not. I am in two minds on this. If postponed then Musharraf gets even more time, but if held now they will be a joke. Maybe postponed only for short period but then insist on free and fair elections?
I hope this makes everyone wake up against extremism and the dangers of that. The Musharraf government has failed to get rid of extremism and only a truly democratic government can do so.
The sad part is that we are fighting over whether to have democracy or whether to fight extremism. We must do both.
In these genuine moments of grief and anger we need to use language responsibly. Please refrain from making hopeless predictions about the future. It only fuels more fear in this super sensitive and flammable environment.
Anger is a powerful force if channeled in a positive manner. Instead of burning our house out uncontrolled sorrow, if people use their anger to stand on the streets, together in one voice, and demand restoration of judiciary and release of judges, only law is a possible solution to pacify the present chaos. We need to use this grief to bring us and keep us together.