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.
Typical! even after her death BB belongs more on the cover for foreign publications then she really does in Pakistan. Her life and work was more designed to the imagination of the west than being a capable leader to lead Pakistan. Her track record as a twice failed PM speaks louder then her imaginary perception in the wester publications indicated here. Good for Hollywood though to start looking for look-alike to perhaps come up with a movie in the next 3 years??
BB’s death may be good for PPP if they play their cards right. PPP can emerge as a single majority party in the upcoming elections provided they pass the helm to the VP of the party Makhdoom Amin Fahim. If they do not and let Asif Ali Zardari take the lead, then PPP will be doomed forever!! From the looks of it though, it seems that PPP is heading towards self-annihilation in the next few months!
Eidee Man,
Benazir is more than a Sindhi legend. I am a Urdu speaking Pakistani from Karachi and I just spoke with my folks from Karachi. It seems obvious that there is great grief in Karachi regardless of ethnic background.
People will keep looking for their ‘typical Muslim leader’ but, by their grief, Pakistanis have already spoken: We did have one single charismatic leader who combined grace, beauty, charisma, wit, courage, buttressed with a 30-year old track record of struggle.
And we killed her! We killed her, a leader who may well be the main reason that many generations later the word ‘Pakistan’ may be recognized.
Yes, it is cynical and pessimistic, but I see not much hope in Pakistan anymore unless there is a radical change in direction. And if there is no radical change in direction then we, the people of Sindh, are getting tired of seeing ‘Pindi return our leaders in coffins!
173 bank torched completely
26 bank damaged
158 office torched and burnt completely
23 office damaged
24 petrol pump burnt
2 petrol pump damaged
370 cars completely burnt
61 cars damaged
72 trains bogies/coaches torched completely
18 railway station burnt completely
4 station damaged
765 shops were torched completely gutted
19 offices/shops damaged partially
38 people killed
53 people injured
Maybe you could keep adding more to this if readers send you more and turn this to an ongoing tribute to this great woman.
I have rarely seen this amount of solidarity in Pakistan. The blog posts (not just here) are quite cynical. But it was surprising to see how so many in Pakistan, even those who were no fans of Benaizr, felt a sense of sadness. That seems to be the explanation for why statements from political opponents have been more than perfunctory condolences–no leader seems to want to go counter to the prevailing public sentiment. Let’s hope this is a glimpse of our long dormant ‘insaniyat’.