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.
why are mullahs NEVER the victims of suicide attacks??? anyone??
Excellent collection. She was always a world figure and the world mourns her. May she rest in peace.
I like this post very much. Very powerful and beautiful way to do a post.
Arfeen,
Yes, Qazi Hussain Ahmad is personally there in Larkana today to offer condolences while I have seen at least a video of Maulana Fazlul rehman offering his condolences. One promiment political person who has not even bothered to offer even a lip-service condolence is Zia ul Haq’s son Ijaz ul Haq; he may have done that though I am not aware if it?
As someone aptly put it above: Benazir Bhutto was JFK and Princess Diana rolled into one person. But I honestly think Benazir towered above her considering BB’s struggle of 30 years and the tragedies she had to face. I would put her at par with Nelson Mendela and Myanmar’s Suu Kyi if compared with modern leaders. Though, unlike the latter two, BB was certainly ‘practical’ enough to not go through extended imprisonments. There are many other faults of BB. But if one factors in the odds against her and the peculiar socio-political milieu of Pakistan she manages to tower above her faults. The most people can accuse her to bring her down is her corruption of which only $13 million was ever bore up to ‘conviction’ and that too was taken back later. And we must not forget how the establishment of Pakistan have loathed Bhuttos and would go to any length to frame her.