Bhutto : murder of hope

Assassination of Benazir Bhutto brings another major destabilizing
changein South Asia. Al Qaeda was quick to beat their chest and
declaredthat they murdered her for being a' Sweet puppet' for
Americans. Who killed her, is still an unsolved crime for me, there
are many who would have wanted her removed. Was she the target
of well known terrorist groups or was it something on the other side,
she definitely knew too much and was a headache for the government.
She was meeting the leaders from the region and was scheduled to
hold crucial discussions with Americans on the evening of her death.
Whoever did it would not care that she was a hope for hundreds
of millions in her country, a hope for democracy
( no matter how flawed it is), freedom and dignity of a
nation. Its a misfortune of poor nations, the people who should die
never die, and the onesthat shoulder the hope always die early.

I acknowledge the drawbacks of Benazir when she was in power,
twice.Although touted heavily by the west as the last hope for
Pakistan,she actually never initiated modernization of the country,
she didnot do much for the women, she did not touch the traditional
mullahs and mujahiddin who are still the cause of much trouble
and bloodshed in Pakistan. Corruption was rampant at her reign,
even her husband was embroiled. In spite of all these, she was
still better than anyone that was there in the Pakistani politics,
much better than Musharraf or Nawaj Sharif. No matter how
badly she mishandled the overall management of her government,
she was a civilian and civilized democratic leader. She was a
woman Prime Minister, in a country of hardline Islam. She did
not send troops to help Taliban, she did not send in ISI to murder
journalists and opposition leaders, or hang them with order from
puppet judiciary on false charges to enhance her own political game,
she did not try to nozzle up the press, she did not carry out a coup
against an elected government. She was truly a mother, a daughter
and a wife who was bringing Pakistan out of the dark clouds of
military rule. Her father was executed by General Zia, she lost
her election to another popular party, in a fair election.
She handed over power to the opposition as in any other normal
democratic nation without bloodshed or force of reluctance to shed,
probably the only leader to do so in Pakistan.

She provided hope to other small South Asian nations who could
not stand up to Indian hegemony and aggression in the region.
She said she will fight for even an inch with the Indians if needed.
She was the only leader in South Asia who could stand up to the West
and talk the talk, walk the walk. She was truly the only Global
statesperson to come outof the region, after her own father.

To me, the cowardice and callousness of this murder represents
and symbolizes the uncluttered view of the terrorists who carry
out their vicious 'Jihad', that they can never be a part of a civil
world, they ought to be hunted down and exterminated, since its
them or us.This is the kind of situation where you have to take
sides, where even a moderate like me is forced to make judgments
based on people's identity in relation to their faith and race.

Its not that Pakistan will stop existing because of her death, this
nation has withstood peril many times and won, but the seemingly
vacant top leadership is a worry to everyone in the region and the world.