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.
There is has been non stop coverage about BBs’ assassination in the USA, with every politician commenting on her sad demise. All the news channels, cnn/msnbc/fox/, have been beaming file and current footage of her and her background along with news reels from geo/aaj/ary/ptv, full of accolades and praises. Rightly so.
For the first time i can see some insightful and meaningful questions being asked. of pakistani’s around the world and within pakistan. What a sad day for all of us especially all of us pakistani’s. Maybe BB can accomplish something that she could never do so in life, opening the hearts of us to some, realization that we all need to say ,”enough is enough and we will not stand for this debauchery and rape being committed with our nation and destiny.”
Allah helps those who help themselves.
benazir bhutoo about Abdul Qadir
Somethings are done for the interest of the country. So sorry but you were wrong to go after this issue. If you loved your country then do not sit in a bullet proof car but come out from sunroof. Because you told Pakistan that you care for Pakistan.Should have tried to live for Pakistan.
My Dear people of pakistan,
i am no more, that was the end of me, but remember once again what i said when i came back to pakistan, the only person who is still breathing, who can tell everyone, that what is the deal with the pakistan’s neuk-programe, that is the dear A Q Khan, i would have taken him to the safty and than asked him who where those army generals???? who have taken all the benifit out of your efforts and sold the technology to others, and placed you as the only one to be blamed, now my dear country men please think and tell me why my father my brothers and now i myself have been killed, terminated, where army of pakistan was to give their lives to save east pakistan, they threw down their weapons, and where us tried to save the country are always killed int his fasion. ???? i am no more but my question will remain the same, think my dear country men why is it so that there has not yet been a single audit of any of the army generals but only the polititions and civil society??????? i am no more but you are and pakistan is so please think and give it a thought……. i will be looking down…………its now upto you what you think and what you do your next step will be your test…………….God Bless pakistan and God bless people of pakistan……
A great disaster which will lead our country to further anarchy and chaos. Who will be getting benefit from all this sitution..
Plz note western media in conjunction with anarchy and chaos which is currently devastating our country and realize where we are heading.
God Bless Quaid’s Country
Like all Pakistanis my heart is full of grief and my mind is full of fear. Taking the life of a twice elected PM and the best known Pakistani political figure in this cold blooded manner is absolutely horrific.
I hope and pary that all Pakistanis shun their differences and stand together in the face of this never ending menace of terrorism. Paksitan has become just like Lebanon and Iraq where fate of the nation is decided with bombs and bullets and not on the ballot box.
While I remain optimistic that Pakistan will not turn into a failed state I have a feeling that this will be forgotten as one more painful episode in Pakistan history and come New Year eve the Pakistani elite will be singing and dancing again forgetting the misery of this nation. Let see ….