Benazir Bhutto assassinated

This was posted at the New York Times an hour ago:

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP)—Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a suicide attack at a campaign rally that also killed at least 20 others, aides said….

No one claimed responsibility for the killing. But suspicion was likely to fall on resurgent Islamic militants linked to al Qaida and the Taliban who hated Bhutto for her close ties to the Americans and support for the war on terrorism. A local Taliban leader reportedly threatened to greet Bhutto’s return to the country from exile in October with suicide bombings.

The attacker struck just minutes after Bhutto addressed thousands of supporters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, 8 miles south of Islamabad. She was shot in the neck and chest by the attacker, who then blew himself up, said Rehman Malik, Bhutto’s security adviser.

Sardar Qamar Hayyat, a leader from Bhutto’s party, said he was standing about 10 yard away from Benazir Bhutto’s vehicle at the time of the attack.

“She was inside the vehicle and was coming out from the gate after addressing the rally when some of the youths started chanting slogans in her favor. Then I saw a smiling Bhutto emerging from the vehicle’s roof and responding to their slogans,” he said.

“Then I saw a thin, young man jumping toward her vehicle from the back and opening fire. Moments later, I saw her speeding vehicle going away,” he added.

I’m horrified by this. In America your political opponents use negative campaign ads against you; in Pakistan they shoot you and blow you up along with scores of your supporters. And our government has been second-guessing President Musharraf on how he should run his country that is filled with insane Muslim extremists?

But I’m puzzled by the way Bhutto exposed herself to this obvious danger. Her enemies attempted to kill her with a suicide bomb attack as soon as she returned to Pakistan from exile several weeks ago, indeed, as she was being driven in a motorcade from the airport. And that earlier attack, in which a vast number of people were killed, occurred as Bhutto was standing in a moving car with an opening in the roof surrounded by a crowd of supporters. She was standing in a similar position in an open-roofed automobile surrounded by a crowd when she was shot today. Given that people were trying to kill her, and given her exposed mode of campaigning, how did she expect not to be killed?

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N. writes:

The assassination of Bhutto shows us the political culture of Pakistan in a stark manner. She is not the first political figure to be murdered and unfortunately will not be the last. This has a lot of implications for U.S. policy, and for the stability of Southwest Asia as well. Once again we must wonder just who is in control of the 50+ nuclear weapons Pakistan is reputed to have, for example, and who would be in control of them if the Musharraf government were to fall.

As for wondering why she exposed herself to such danger, perhaps it was arrogance on her part, as she’s survived all previous attempts. Or perhaps it was “inshAllah” fatalism? “If it is the will of Allah that this should happen, nothing can stop it.”

Indian living in the West writes:

I am in India right now and people here are stunned by the sheer brutality that has taken over Pakistan. The press and the electronic media here follow developments in Pakistan very closely as that affects Indians more directly than Europeans or Americans.

I am not surprised by what happened. It was a matter of time. If anything, this fits in with the history of that country. People have forgotten history—what happened to Benazir’s father? He was hanged by the military. Benazir was assasinated by fanatics (aided by sections of the establishment Im sure).

There is no way you can ever have any such thing as demoracy in Pakistan. It is a country filled with Islamic lunatics. It is a pit filled with vipers of the worst kind.

I am not a heartless person. I feel for the small number of peaceloving and moderate people in Pakistan (they do exist). I’ve been watching the news and some have been interviewed in the aftermath of the assasination by the Indian news channels—and all of them sense a feeling of hopelessness. They have been devastated. In Bhutto they saw some hope—for peace and freedom and normalcy. They won’t get it.

In times like these, even though I am an agnostic, I thank my good fortune that I was born in a peaceloving country—and that this country does not have a Muslim majority.

Now turning to your question: could she not see it coming? She was an ambitious woman and she saw this as her opportunity to wrest political control back from Musharraf. Opinion polls showed that the public was fed up with the Musharraft regime and that she was the most popular politician. I think she saw this as the time to put in an effort and win. And with elections only a few weeks away, she took a calculated gamble.

Pakistan is deteriorating rapidly. The government there is losing control of the country. This is a very dangerous time. The time is ripe to crush the extremists. However, I doubt if the West has the stomach to do what is required to crush them. Neither do the current lot of sorry Indian politicians with some notable exceptions. So the task will be left to the Pakistani military which is inefficient, corrupt and also riddled with Islamic symathisers. But they are the only route available today to destroying the extremists.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at December 27, 2007 12:06 PM | Send