Benazir has been assasinated. Tragedy not only for democracy. For Benazir’s family. But a great tragedy for Pakistan. Lets pray that Pakistan can hold itself together and not break out in civil war. Will they still hold electons still ? Can Pakistan survive this ? Is Pakistan being turned into another Afganistan. Will we ultimately hold the US responsible for creating such chaos in Pakistan ?
Is it only Pakistan?
Benazeer Bhutto… thrashed and welcomed by Pakistan…. supported by US… killed by Extremists… Politicians?
It has been suggested that it was during her rule that Taliban progressed in Pakistan. And then with the turn of events, she became one of its most coveted targets for passing anti-Taliban remarks.
But, is it only Pakistan?
I guess, the roots can be seen crawling under the Indian soil as well…
Exiled ‘anti-Islam’ Bangladeshi writer Taslima driven out of Kolkataa, though supported by many.
Self-exiled M F Hussain’s exhibition vandalised, yet we smile on his being called Picasso of India.
A Bandit Queen created and then killed…
Is there a global society? Where is it heading?
HK
Dear Shekhar,
This is indeed very sad news as Bezazir is one of those rare people with whom you feel a certain kind of empathy, and I certainly felt she could do well for her nation. Pakistan has been almost always in chaos right from independence and they never had the kind of leaders that we had and it is still a society which requires a lot of work before achieving democracy. Just having an election will not suddenly make the nation much better than it is now. I can’t blame the US for this at all as they were just supporting Musharraf to keep him as an ally in the war on terror and would have supported him even if he were a civilian president. If at all, the US has prevented pakistan from falling into bankruptcy. Let’s not definitely blame the US for this. They are the the greatest country in the world and far far better than any other democracy. Almost all countries do things that are in their interest and there has never been a more responsible superpower than the US.
Anways, the news is very sad and I really feel for her family and Pakistan has definitely lost its way.
Regards,
Himanshu
Contrary to expectations, Benazir’s assassination may unite some of the many warring factions in Pakistan. Musharraf will be the biggest loser,as public demand for a REAL democracy may intensify. All his plans to have sham elections and rig the result will now come to naught. Will they still hold elections? Not on the scheduled date of 8th Jan, I guess. Maybe at a later date. Can Pakistan survive this? Surely. How many assassinations has India survived? Plenty.
Is Pakistan turning into another Afghanistan? They have a pretty porous border anyway. Will we hold the US responsible for creating such chaos in Pakistan? Is the US responsible for creating such chaos in Pakistan? That can only be known after the identity of the assassination planners is revealed. If ever that happens.
Cheers!
Your questions are huge and contentious.
As to the assassination, I’m still sad in shock. It’s like the death of democracy.
Our only hope is that the people who can see the moral fabric of time the only those who are willing to help have the courage to desist the temptations of the dark ignorant side and have enough energy left in them to help the very people who try to erase their existence.
R.I.P Benazir….
Dear Shekhar,
this assassination saddens me terribly and like the assassinations of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, Indira Gandhi in 1984 and now Benazir Bhutto it was fueled by fanaticism, hatred and religious fervor. There is just no end in sight to stop this insanity. I am truly afraid that the anger of Pakistan’s populace will boil over and again innocent people will be the victims. The disingenuous utterances of Musharraf about the “great tragedy which he cannot describe in words..” will make it difficult for him to contrive a reason for not holding elections. Hopefully, the world will finally find its collective voice of outrage if he tries to betray Pakistan.
Pakistan can survive this if the voices of reason prevail which of course is a hope that is walking on somewhat shaky ground. Still, the sons and daughters of Jinnah have seen worse. There is probably a lot of determination and defiance in the hearts of Pakistanis over the murder of Bhutto. If these emotions can be channeled into a positive movement Pakistan has a good chance to avoid chaos and civil strife of the kind that had happened to Afghanistan.
To hold America responsible is another matter entirely. The U.S. in its less than sterling history has always had unholy alliances with scoundrels, the list is incredibly long and it appears that not much will change unless a new President has the political will to break with that tradition.
Regards
Horst
The Modis are created, criticized and then supported and may be removed one day. Hitlers are created and removed one day. Gandhis are created and removed. Who is responsible who is not?? in the natures ballgame.
Nobody is a sinner.
Nobody is a saint.
It is just all one whole.
If someone is committed a sin,
we have committed it.
You have committed it.
I have committed it.
At the same time,
if someone attains buddhahood,
we also attain something of the beyond.
Its vague but thats the way it seems to be it is.
[let us all pray peace
within all hearts of the world)
The thought that comes to my mind is that though the government would try to blame it on terrorists, Islamists, Al Qaeda or whoever catches their fancy, it’s obvious who planned it, but are the people of Pakistan going to do anything about it?
Isn’t it one of the most brilliant strokes by Musharraf? Had Nawaz Sharif been killed, Ms Bhutto would still have been in the political fray. But with her gone, Mr Sharif will try to save his neck, and who else is left in the Pakistani political scene? Imran Khan could try to make a comeback, but where is he? Now the Army/ISI rules.
More than Pakistan, India has reasons to worry, for we can expect Pakistan to be on the offensive.
Dear Shekhar,
I wrote abt it in my blog too.
Benazir seemed to be last hope for restoring democracy and checking fundamentalism in beleagured Pakistan. Her death is a tragic blow for that dream. The repurcussions are heard all over the world ..including the presidential elections in the US. It’s very strange that death of a mere former leader of a failed developing country could generate so much noise and news all over the world. Is is because she was a charismatic leader- A divine looking daughter of the east- or is it because that region holds the future of this world; I think it’s the latter.
West is scared that if the nuclear arsenal of pakistan comes under the control of fundamentalists-who are both within pak and very close to pak borders and who are supposedly responsible for Bhutto’s murder- the doomsday will be not very far. The killing of Benazir stirs those fears and insecurities…hence so much of interest in her assasination.
I have always believed that a nation’s fate is decided by few people…mainly it’s leaders. Pakistan has been very unfortunate in that sense. I have known pakistanis very closely after coming to Canada…they could be amazing people…smart..full of life….fun loving..basically people with great potential; But, few powerful people , both in past and present, have screwed up the country…
Regards
Dev
Just curious…why is it that you’d consider the US to blame for what’s going on in Pakistan? It’s in the interests of the US that Pakistan remain as stable as possible.
Butto was a sophisticated woman who knew the danger she was in. Let us not disregard her courage or her awareness.
Dear Shakher,
Why blame US for Benzir assasination? It is pakistani people are rulers who did that. It is the people who belive in “Islam, the religion of peace” who did that. It is an indication that India should keep the tight hold on Muslims and Islam
I am not saying I blame the US, just asking if we will. The question that must be asked is ‘ have the people of Pakistan been radicalized by Musharraf being forced to send his army against his own people at the behest of the US ? Has that given rise to fundamentalism in Pakistan ? It certainly seems so. The rise of fundamentalism in Afganistan came to the forefront after American troops came looking for Bin Laden in Afganistan’
However now that the question has been asked, I would look deeply into the politics of colonization.
a. Pakistan wld not have been a separate Islamic nation had the British not divided India – but of course there is the counter argument that runs “was there an India before the British ?’
b. Afghanistan for the last 200 years has suffered from the politics of European powers – the history of the ‘Big Game’ as it was called really destroyed any hope a great civilization emerging out of Afghanistan
c. And the the Russians came – and then the Americans creating the Taliban
d. And finally Musharaf bending to the demands of the US to attack his own people that live on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Shekhar
That may be true but that implies we are assuming there could be some deep rooted reason behind Benazir being assasinated. Why couldnt it be simple political elimination by Mush himself? If you follow Pak news for last three months or so, you clearly know how desperate Mush is to hold on to power. Besides, he did not let an independent enquiry take place after the first attemptand also did not provide her with any additional security. Benazir could be his only fear and now that fear is over. Now Pak govt is trying to say that she did not really die of bullet or the bombs.
Love for power is age old-our history is full of such stories. I would like to use Occam’s razor to interpret this incident.
The subcontinent is not populated by one people, but its peoples have a long shared history and shared blood. The subcontinent was an entity before the British came. The British deepened existing fractures, and as they left parted it into 3 — or, if we consider Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, parted it into 4.5. And the parting was deliberate, meant to weaken the subcontinent’s peoples as a whole.
Not only did Afghanistan suffer, but also all of the subcontinent, from the pressures and manipulations of colonization.
The Americans didn’t create the Taliban — but they certainly strengthened its hand as they funded it, to help ensure the defeat of the Russians.
Murder, killing and assassinating anyone is never a justified and approved act in any civilised society. My two cents on this one:-
1. All of a sudden an opposition leader of a political party in Pakistan is killed, and the media labels it as the death of a democracy and total darkness for the nation. Was it the same way when her father was hanged to death by a dictator? Her father was hanged in 1979. Or the media was not a stronger weapon at that time as it is today.
2. The last 10 years, Benazir had spent in exile. Exile, does not literally mean “Kala paani” here. It was self imposed exile into the best country in the world, it was an exile into a big mansion, high level security and a royal lifestyle…Say…a long vacation.
3. In between, lots of things happened. For example Tsunami, Virginia Tech killings, Afghanistan, Iraq and many more. But we never saw this symbol of democracy making any strong comments or any other commitments on any of the happenings in the world.
4. All of a sudden a dictator announces the elections, a Mediator helps in conducting a meeting (mandwali in mumbaiya language) between a dictator and the symbol of democracy. An exiled leader is invited to be a part of the celebrations of democracy. A GAME OF DEMOCRACY whose referee is a dictator.
5. Then she is assassinated and all of a sudden this killing takes the shape of DEATH OF A DEMOCRACY. Is the democracy such a small term that it can die with an assassination of an opposition leader of one party in any nation?
Someone is really playing a nasty game here. Afghanistan, Iraq! And I hope it’s not Pakistan now.
When i heard about the news i thgt musharaf would be the last person to do this as he wud actually be the biggest loser. But the turn of events in the last two days do make me feel it must be mush or his desperation for power. The only reason why the radical mush supported US was bcos he needed US support to stay in power. So we all know how hungry he is for power. Now more than power it is the fear of life I think. He now has too many enemies to not be in power and still be safe. But when he realised that the assassination has got the party too much sympathy he is now saying she was never murdered and that it was an accident. Why wasnt a post mortem insisted upon if there was so much confusion. Dragging the Al qaeda is the safest bet here bcos they wont care too much to deny it. The question is will anybody ever know who really was behind this cold blooded murder. Why did the assasin kill himself after the job. Certainly only bcos he had too much to hide. What use is democracy if we dont ever know what is going on at the top. I know there is no democracy in pak but the situation wouldnt have been any different even if it was democratic. Hiding from the people is always a priority whenever people have power. Thats why i feel democracy is an end and not the means. Pakistan is very used to much bigger turmoils in their short history so I m sure they will come out of this pretty soon but will they now move into the right direction and not be fooled by emotions. They need true leaders and dedicated peoples groups and media. Lets hope we have a strong, prosperous and true neighbor.
Pak turn into another Afghanistan? God Forbid!. Our neighbour has nuclear bombs