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 assassin who then blew himself up in a suicide attack. This happened at the 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 the 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 assassinated. 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.
listen to the peoples of pakistan to veryfy the really story,, over 116 million peoples dont know whats good for them and one man do!!
Yes, life ‘goes on’ just like it does in Baluchistan where everyday some power pillion or railway tract get blown away. Yes, life goes on like it does in NWFP where…I guess I don’t need to add anything to that.
Sir: When a whole linguistic group feels alienated then it can only be downhill from there unless drastic measures are taken. ZAB’s execution was wound which is still festering in the hearts of the Sindhi speaking Pakistanis. And this will bound to have huge impact. So, yes, Pakistan will be around–and may it prosper forever–but a Pakistan where there is another anti-center movement picks up to start blowing up stuff is not a healthy Pakistan.
This is in the mind of even Nawaz Sharif who said today that Pakistan ‘cannot afford another Fall of Dhaka’.
Let’s hope that we end the involvement of military from Pakistan’s affairs forever by using a national tragedy as an opportunity for change. Are you listening Mr. Musharraf?!
Today in Pakistan is really the critical day. In the next many hours we will find out whether Pakistan will come together or whether we will see more bloodshed and destruction. I hope that our society will learn the real lessons from this and rise for democracy and peace and against violence and extremism.
Dear Faraz, I sincerely hope you are wrong. If “life will go on” and nothing will change even after this tragedy then shame on us. I hope that things will change. I hope that we as a people will rise against the evil of extremism and violence and that we will rise for democracy. I really wish that things will change.
No, Pakistan is not going to come to an end because of this incident. Pakistan is not going to erupt into a civil war. There won’t be a Sindhi-Punjabi conflict. Pakistan has not turned overnight into a “failed” state. Please don’t be so pessimistic. It’s natural to be emotional but some of the posts are just overreactions.
Life will go on.