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 am watching CNN in lerry King Live this lady Dale is telling who has worked with Bhutto that Bhutto would have provided access to NATO to frontier areas and she would have given control of Pakistan nukes to NATO. Do nto trust me ask for recording of Lerry King live dated 12-28-2007
All the anti Mushraf propaganda this is what was going to happen if she had won. Now You will see how USA will change policy towards Pakistan because they could not get what they wanted from Bhutto.Here come CNN in Pakistan all of their top journalists are stationing there.
America has lost mind they are telling the world Pakistan is the most dangers country on the earth. Pakistan has failed in fighting with Al-Qaeda , this and that.
This all after the death of Bhutto. This clearly shows Bhutto was USA’s last hope to take over the Pakistan’s internal matters.
One should Ask USA why USA has failed in fight with al-qaeda in Iraq and Afghanistan? After spending trillion dollars and after USA lost almost 4000 solders? What make USA think Pakistan can do the same with way less money and with less time than USA?
As always Al-Qaeda acts results in USA aggression. Wake up and smell the coffee.
Something big is being planned as the language is same as they used to have for Osama before 9-11.
Remember before 9-11 Osama was called world’s most dangers man on earth now they are calling Pakistan the most dangers country on earth.
This board must not allow propaganda posts. We need to unite and show the world we will come over this hard time.
Who is to Blame for Bhutto’s assassination?
- Musharraf, for not gaining control over extremism despite all the resources at his disposal
- The US, for ignoring Pakistan for so long after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was over and letting things get so out of hand
- The US, for unnecessarily invading Iraq and dropping the ball in Afghanistan
- The Pakistani people, for not standing tall against injustice and extremism
- The Pakistani people, for always thinking that some ‘savior’ will come out of the blue and fix everything wrong with Pakistan (Bhutto, Nawaz, Musharraf and now “democracy”)
- The Pakistani people who always believe that the end justifies the means.
- The Pakistani people who never want to take personal accountability for anything, yet expect their leaders to be perfect
- Our political parties for demanding democracy for our country, but not being democratic internally. If the PPP was not Bhutto’s personal party then maybe we would have had other viable candidates, and maybe it wouldn’t have made sense for the extremists to target Bhutto.
Until we stop looking for easy solutions to Pakistan’s (difficult) problems, we will find no solution.
I agree with Adil,
“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.”
Many ppl on this forum are trying to make Mush as scape goat. Off course he is partially responsible for his incomptence and his inabilty to communicate his vision with ppl, but reality is ppl dont want to see real ugly face or our islamic pakistani civilization. Just think about hundreds of pakistani shias who were target killed by these terrorist jihadis.
I dont see lot of hope for Pakistan SORRY. Big mouth like Imran khan and Qazi who curse USA for all this shit will become popular. Moderate leaders will be killed by OBL friends. We are going to turn into Iraq or Afghanistan or may be worse.
Mush has lost his credibilty and SORRY, NS dont have vision to fight extremism as he can not come out of his own religious fever. Where we are going. Straight to shame, disgust and destruction.
What make me sick, that even it is so obvious that who is no 1 enemey of Pakistan right now, ppl just play blame games and they dont have resolve to fight extremism as pakistanis think it as some one else war.
It is great opportunity for all opposition parties to unite on a single demand.Mush should resign and they form unity govt.
This will result in restoration of constitution and judiciary.
Given a chance Aitzaz Ahsan will emerge as a great leader.
Pakistan is a resilient society.We must keep our hopes alive.
Mush its time to go and don’t let the door hit you in the behind.
Do you think the PPP will choose Aitizaz as its new leader. If they do this coudl be a whole new game because he will bring new popularity and credibility to what Benazir had. It could be the best thing for the country.
I think this is the time for civil society and the political parties to join to push Musharraf for real democracy. Not false elections, but real elections… and force him to leave. Whoever comes, no matter who, will be better than him.
Let us not forget the judiciary issue and also the human rights issue in all of this. The demand of the people must include full restoriation of constitution, of judiciary and of human rights. Plus elections.