Adil Najam
Whatever her opponents may think of her, Benazir Bhutto was a most recognized and much-loved international figure. An icon in the best sense of the word. The shock of her death – and the manner of her death – was not confined to Pakistan. As comments on our earlier post suggests, in that moment, the entire world stopped in its tracks. It was not just the most tragic of moments, but also a most historic moment.
These are the pictures of the front pages from just a few newspapers from across the United States and across the world. They are but a fraction of the hundreds, possibly thousands, of newspaper front pages that mourned her death. They make a fitting tribute to a woman who served twice as Pakistan’s Prime Minister, but was also a global citizen in heart and in spirit.
Regular readers of ATP know our fascination with newspaper front pages, which we feature often as pictures in our political posts. But credit for this fine collection goes to the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) who have featured this collection (ATP added a few images) on SAJA Forum. My gratitude to them for this, please do visit the SAJA page where you can click on each of the front pages images for more detail in them. Additional images of international newspapers were found at another wonderful post here.
Well why Benazir was that much covered? The answer is that Pakistan is nuclear country and worst nighmare of west and West saw a savior of Pakistan in Benazir with her pro western stand.
One of the strategist of “Lexington think tank” littteraly said that we “engineered” return of Benazir.
I bet most people in Licoln, Nebraska won’t be able to locate Pakistan on the world map. And yet Liclon Journal Star has its full front page covered with Benzair. That surely says something about Benazir.
This is a tragedy that I’m sure Pakistan and the world will be discussing for years to come. Benazir Bhutto will be immortalized forever and is a martyr for democracy.
Rest In Peace Benazir.
http://www.freeryantoday.com
Still reeling from her death.
Uncertainty at every step.
First they said gun shot wound and there was a video of the gun man shooting at her.
Then they said shrapnel
Now they are saying she just hit her head.
And no autopsy.
And the police all left their posts before it happened.
Very strange.
I wish I could feel as great a sense of loss as I see and read from the expressions of so many. I am definitely missing something that I hope I can find soon and relate to. Nevertheless, it is a national loss, as so many people believed in her. To me she was a great politician with a charismatic personality. What makes me a sceptic is the fact that she could not prove herself while being the premier twice and was ousted with great discountenance. A brief glance through the two periods of her premiership and her political career is enough to cast shadows on her purpose and mission. As much as she claimed to stand for democracy, she could not practice that within her own party and she used traditional political maneuvering to push aside her own mother in taking complete control of the party and proclaimed herself to be a life-time chairperson. Just because of that fact, today People’s Party is at a loss. There is simply no one that can fill her shoes and is able to carry the torch of democracy, that she claimed to have been carrying for the people. Without doubt, she was a very strong and resourceful leader. This void may not only jeopardise the party itself, but at the same time, may have catastrophic implications on the process that was inching towards democracy. I hope the leadership of other political parties realize that too.
Yesterday’s tragic event and the pursuing carnage and bloodshed simply extrapolates the fact that both our leaders and ourselves as a nation have a long way to go before we can even start appreciating the meanings of human values, human rights, respect for other’s property and life, democracy, justice, etc. There is so much of hypocrisy and moral degeneration in every facet of our society, that it sometimes feel futile to even attempt to address them. It is also very painful to see that the People’s Party workers and their sympathizers are doing exactly what the murderers of their leader wanted. Very sad, indeed!
But then, we are still a young country and we have to go through our trials and tribulations our own way as a nation. Some nations are lucky to get leaders that have a vision and are committed to that vision; others prefer to take longer paths and go through a painstaking process of learning through mistakes. Looks like we, the Pakistanis seem to prefer the latter and I sincerely hope that we are learning as we move forward. As far as the question, what we, the Pakistanis can do? The only one word that comes to my mind is ‘Education’. Educating ourselves and especially our young ones is the only answer. Education, that builds character, sense of value, and most important of all, an aspiration to become a good human being. Education, that teaches us to “Think”. Then can we expect, that we desire from our leadership. On the contrary, we will continue to spiral towards moral bankruptcy. No amount of such lamenting and bemoaning will suffice the need of the time.
We have to remember one thing. Leaders of a nation rise from within the nation and are not imported. If we find fault with our leaders, it is us who are to be blamed. Such are the times when we can truly gauge our merits. If we, the elders, do our part as parents and teachers, and inculcate moral values into our younger generation, then we stand some chance of seeing our next generation as a better nation and from within that nation, better leaders. So, we really have a long way to go. God bless us all!