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.
Rest in peace.
Larkana should be re-named Bhutto City.
my well meant condolences. i understand the tragedy, i feel the pain. i admire people going the non-violent way while being threatened with violence. my deep respect for Benazir Buttho. May she rest in peace.
I pray that this will remind the world and everyone in it to renounce violence and seek peace. We have made our world very very violenct. My own country USA is greatly to blame for this itself as are others. I hope that those of us who want peace will stand up for it and demand it everywhere.
As an Indian, Benazir Bhutto’s murder brought home for the first time the very real and dangerous possibility of a Pakistan taken over by extremists, hostile to India and other countries with horrific weapons at their disposal. For the first time, I’d say we in India are realizing the crucial importance of a moderate and self-satisfied Pakistan if India is to continue to see stability and economic progress. India cannot afford to be an island any longer.
I believe Benazir Bhutto was an incredibly brave woman to return to Pakistan and campaign, fully aware of the possibility of death, with utter belief in and submission to God’s Will. I think her murder is sad and unfortunate, but it can become a massive force for positive change in Pakistan if the people in Pakistan wish it and are willing to die for their wish to come true. If more such people like Benazir emerge in Pakistan that refuse to be cowed down by force or to shortchange their values for short-term stability, the country’s future is bright indeed. The price of democracy is the courage to stand up for one’s beliefs, whatever the consequences, and once one is ready to pay that price, no one can suspend or otherwise interfere with the people’s supreme Will (in effect, democracy).
Today, an Indian is for the first time for a stable, secure and above all, moderate Pakistan. And I know I’m not the only one. One hopes Bhutto did not sacrifice her life for Pakistan in vain. And one hopes that a happy Pakistan will not strive for an unhappy India :).
What I heard that “Lashkar jhangwi” carried out this assisination on behalf of OBL. These were not foreigners but pakistanis.
Where were you guys when laskar jhnagwi was killing inoocent shias in 1990s. Where was NS, Hamid Gul and Qazi sahib at that time.? My close friend father who was college principal was killed by sapah sabaha in karachi just because he was shia.
We all have killed benazir.