Benazir Bhutto Assassinated (Updated)

Posted on by

Initial reports are coming in and SM will certainly pass on the message. First, CNN Reports –

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (CNN) — Pakistan former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was targeted in a deadly suicide bombing Thursday. Media reports quote her husband saying she suffered a bullet wound to the neck in the attack.

…The attacker is said to have detonated a bomb as he tried to enter the rally where thousands of people gathered to hear Bhutto speak, police said.

Some first guesses at implications..

While President Pervez Musharraf has promised free and fair parliamentary elections next month, continued instability in the tribal areas and the threat of attack on large crowds has kept people from attending political rallies and dampened the country’s political process.

Campaigners from various political groups say fewer people are coming out to show their support due to government crackdowns and the threat of violence.

Today’s violence come less than two weeks ahead of January parliamentary elections and as many days after President Pervez Musharraf lifted a six-week-old state of emergency he said was necessary to ensure the country’s stability.

Stay tuned.

<

p>

Updates:

  • Getty’s image archive of the event makes for some powerful browsing..
  • MSNBC: “A party security adviser said Bhutto was shot in the neck and chest as she got into her vehicle, then the gunman blew himself up.”
  • Sky: “Sky News correspondent Alex Crawford said from Pakistan the country’s upcoming January elections would “most likely be postponed or cancelled” because of the attack.”
  • “What’s worse, that Musharaff may have had a role in this or that he was powerless to stop it?”
  • CNN’s obit on Bhutto
  • State Department – “It demonstrates that there are still those in Pakistan who want to subvert reconciliation and efforts to advance democracy.”
  • Very informative blog entries from NBC’s correspondant in Pakistan-
    But if you are any one of the 99.9 percent of the rest of the 165 million Pakistanis, you hardly notice the emergency law anymore….But most Pakistanis don’t feel it. Musharraf wants it that way…Most analysts here say Musharraf has damaged his reputation, perhaps critically. But so far, he hasn’t pushed people to the streets. Shops are open. Banks are open. Markets are full. Prices are the same as before emergency law. [link]
    With her white veil, bejeweled blouses, flawless English and flair for drama and theatrical timing, Benazir Bhutto has painted herself as lady liberty, a lone woman willing to risk all and stand up to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and his emergency rule…. But Pakistan is not Myanmar, and Bhutto is no Aung San Suu Kyi [link]
  • Excellent NYT article on Bhutto’s dark side –
    Ms. Bhutto, 54, returned to Pakistan to present herself as the answer to the nation’s troubles: a tribune of democracy in a state that has been under military rule for eight years, and the leader of the country’s largest opposition political party… But her record in power, and the dance of veils she has deftly performed since her return — one moment standing up to General Musharraf, then next seeming to accommodate him, and never quite revealing her actual intentions — has stirred as much distrust as hope among Pakistanis.
    …”She believes she is the chosen one, that she is the daughter of Bhutto and everything else is secondary,” said Feisal Naqvi, a corporate lawyer in Lahore who knows Ms. Bhutto … her view of the role of government differed little from the classic notion in Pakistan that the state was the preserve of the ruler who dished out favors to constituents and colleagues..
  • World Reaction including India –
    In India, which has long had a thorny relationship with its neighbors in Pakistan, an Indian Congress Party spokesman told the Press Trust of India, “… we must express our deep concern at anything that disrupts and disturbs the even keel of democratic governance in Pakistan… it is not only anti-democracy but also generates instability.”
  • Belmont Club –
    …meaningful elections can occur only when the armies — in this case the Pakistani Army and the armed Islamic militants — are committed to the processes of democracy. When every group under arms within a society is determined to settle the question of power by combat the role for the ballot is small indeed. The next few days will show whether the Pakistani Army — for it will surely not be the Taliban — can rededicate itself to electoral democracy. Pakistan needs its George Washington. Unfortunately it only has its Pervez Musharraf.

<

p>

Some of Vinod’s thoughts –

  • Both Musharaff and Bhutto are considered Pro-US / Pro-West / Secular leaders
    • Especially relative to the Islamists
    • And importantly, relative to the general population
    • Bhutto moreso than Musharraf
  • So, Jihadist forces (who are both anti-Musharraf and anti-Bhutto) are a likely culprit
    • To them, Bhutto was a powerful ally to Musharraf (rather than a rival) and potentially more dangerous in the long run
      • Knocking out an important ally wins them almost as much “cred” as taking out Musharraf directly
      • Bhutto was “more dangerous” because she was even more vocally Pro-West as well as a woman
    • “Pro-Musharraf forces” are getting the initial blame by some … but my gut leans skeptical
      • The jury is still out on whether this is a net gain or net loss for Musharraf’s interests
      • It certainly feeds the perception that he’s not in control of the country
  • Given their similarities, what are the substantive differences between Musharraf and Bhutto?
  • One key difference was their respective views of the general Pakistani population; Musharaff was a bit more of a “realist” ; Bhutto presented herself as an “idealist”
    • Musharaff feared that the populism writ large would lead to an illiberal democracy
    • Bhutto was more willing to turn to the electorate to ..
      • lead the country to more democracy (if you think she has Good Intentions)
      • secure more power / perks for herself (if you think she has Bad Intentions despite the lofty rhetoric)
    • By contrast, Musharraf feared that Bhutto’s push for “more democracy” would backfire, leading to “less liberalism” rather than realizing her (stated) intentions…
    • Perversely, Bhutto’s assassination is a perfect example of illiberality that gives Musharaff the license to enact repressive, authoritarian policy.
    • Given these similar goals but different assessments of the starting line, Musharraf sees himself as a Kemal Atatürk ; Bhutto saw herself as Indira Gandhi or Joan of Arc
  • Another difference stems from background – Musharraf came up to national leadership via the military while Bhutto through politics
    • If you believe the best hope for the country is to follow the “Turkish Model” [more info…] , the Pakistani military is comparatively more professional and a modernizing force relative to the rest of the civil service
    • So, arguably, Musharraf is potentially a more effective, less corrupt manager than a career politician.
      • of course, a “manager” and a “national leader” are 2 very different things
      • … as are “how well” you deploy power vs. “what you do with it”

This entry was posted in Uncategorized by vinod. Bookmark the permalink.

401 thoughts on “Benazir Bhutto Assassinated (Updated)”

  1. I wouldn’t automatically blame Musharraf. The Paki Taliban and ilk have vowed to take over Pakistan and have been held responsible for a string of blasts in recent times.

    After seeing all the footage of Bhutto minutes before she climed into the van, I have been thinking all day who could have killed Bhutto and who could have benefitted. It seems that she was shot in the neck/spinal cord and there is one thing that intrigues me a lot. She is supposed to have been wearing bullet-proof accessories, she is wearing a dupatta and a garland that seems to give minimal view of her neck. In spite of this killer was near perfect in aiming her neck. Doesn’t this suggest a possible handiwork of a professional sniper ?

  2. Question: Is Pakistan ready for democracy? Answer: Do not know. But bring in Justice Bhagwandas and appoint him as the Prime Minister. In a situation like this he is the one who could bring some balance and justice to the innumerable warring groups within the country.

  3. Priya, what I find highly fishy is the way the scene of the crime (the park and road) have been thoroughly washed to remove all trace of the evidence in the incident, purportedly by army jawans.

  4. someone, yes there is something very fishy. Take a look of the final photograph just minutes before she died. Look at her neck. How could anybody have got such a perfect aim at her neck without being a professional ?

  5. Question: Is Pakistan ready for democracy? Answer: Do not know. But bring in Justice Bhagwandas and appoint him as the Prime Minister. In a situation like this he is the one who could bring some balance and justice to the innumerable warring groups within the country.

    Pakistan is more ready for Democracy than it is for a Hindu PM

  6. someone, yes there is something very fishy. Take a look of the final photograph just minutes before she died. Look at her neck. How could anybody have got such a perfect aim at her neck without being a professional ?

    Yes, but professional snipers are a dime a dozen, so what are you getting at?

  7. Yes, but professional snipers are a dime a dozen, so what are you getting at?

    can the talibans/Al-Q be the sophisticated snipers ? doesn’t it sound doubtful ?

  8. Priya, we’re talking about people who are alleged to have flown jet planes precisely into a couple of office buildings. Sniper skills are implausible you think?

    Either way, we will likely never know since the crime scene has been hastily washed of all evidence.

  9. what a tragic end to a brilliant personality? What bothers me most with the developments in Pakistan is that we have lost the ability to track who is killing whom. It seems very likely that a anti-U.S, pro-islamist, pro-al-qaeda group seems to have done this; but who really? Is it the same group that tried a few weeks ago? By clubbing every incident by an extremist group, we just don’t know anymore who is calling the shots…

  10. i feel sad not that she died, because as most people have admitted, it was never out of the question. She had been under attack the first day she came to Pakistan. I mostly feel sorry for the innocent civilians that died, and also anyone else who gets hurt in the ensuing violence. I really didn’t like Bhutto and I’m not going to change my opinion now that she’s dead. I really don’t think she would have been the saviour of Pakistan or any other country. I found an interesting article about her written by her niece that ran recently.

    http://pakistanpolitics.net/?p=55

  11. I subscribe to the theory that the only good Paki Pollie is a dead one. Two decades ago I was watching TV with a group of mates when the death of Zia ul Haq was announced – we broke into loud cheers. BB was not much better. Yeah – she sure looked great but besides that – zilch.

  12. vinod – an excellent list of your thoughts. Does anyone have any ideas on what this will do to the Paki economy?

  13. I subscribe to the theory that the only good Paki Pollie is a dead one. Two decades ago I was watching TV with a group of mates when the death of Zia ul Haq was announced – we broke into loud cheers. BB was not much better. Yeah – she sure looked great but besides that – zilch.

    Elegant! Insightful! Compassionate! Humane!

  14. 248 · Amrita said

    Agree with Ardy that neither Indira nor BB did anything special for women, but then neither did Margaret Thatcher or Golda Meir or Sirimavo Bandaranaike, though Cory Aquino is said to have accomplished reforms that improved women’s lives, and she left office alive as well. I think we’re deluded about this because of the Clinton campaign. I’d say it’s pretty much indisputable hat BB looked a whole lot better while on the job than Attila the Hen or any of the others. Only the good-looking die young. About the purported e-mail from BB saying Musharraf was going to do her in, does BB have a friend like Lucia Flecha de Lima who is willing to step up and say, ‘The butler wrote it’?

    Of course Margaret Thatcher and Golda Meier did a lot for women! They have proven to us all that women can be more tough than any man! Golda and Margaret were total bad asses.

  15. Hi all,

    Very much as I did for the events in Lebanon last summer I thought it would be awesome to get people around the world and in particular in Pakistan to share their views about what is happening there after the assassination of Bhutto. Please spread the word about the pages below where anyone can contribute their opinions, ask questions or just let the world know how you feel. We will not edit any content at the site so everything is unedited. It is a free, unedited, unmediated forum for everyone to give their side of the story and to tell the rest of the world about events that matter. If you choose to contribute via cellphone (SMS, MMS and email) use the following numbers: +45-609-91-0280; +61-427-22-9537; mms@allvoices.com (for images).

    Please help me spread the word as a sincerely believe the only way to move beyond this endless violence is to promote dialogue between citizens across the globe. The future is the unedited dialogue between the citizens of the world so let us start this dialogue now.

    Here is the event page for the tragic death of Benazir where you will find news stories, blogs, first hand accounts, videos and images about the assassination showing you all the angles of the event, please give us yours. http://www.allvoices.com/benazir-bhutto-is-dead

    A page with any content related to Benazir Bhutto including other parts she was part of. Let us know what your feelings are about her and her work. http://www.allvoices.com/people/Benazir-Bhutto

    ( A more general presentation of allvoices is found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAM1y_Qb9Do )

    Bests,

    Erik Sundelof

    Founder, http://www.allvoices.com

    Blog: http://inthefieldonline.net/blog

  16. Of course Margaret Thatcher and Golda Meier did a lot for women! They have proven to us all that women can be more tough than any man! Golda and Margaret were total bad asses.

    Well, Boston Mahesh, they were all badass to the core no doubt, IG to a fare thee well if I may say, totally outstripping Nixon and Kissinger both together, for example, in terms of strategic prowess and economy of means, and BB maybe put them all to shame in the personal and political wickedness department, but that’s not useful for women who are just regular folk, trying to get a bit of respect, and that’s where lies one of the many fallacies in this seeming fable— as well as in the Clinton campaign, with all this nonsense about leaning on a very much living husband. There has always been scope for Catherine the Great and Catherine de Medici, Boudica and the Rani of Jhansi to arise, nothing new there. Unfortunately, BB had allowed herself puppet status in return for rave reviews from the press here, not so Jhansi after all.

    But, but, but, anyway, BB did look great, even while applying red lipstick, and in that sense may have awoken a bit of respect for the dress sense of a handful of Pakistani women.

  17. Priya, we’re talking about people who are alleged to have flown jet planes precisely into a couple of office buildings. Sniper skills are implausible you think?

    it think the amount of precision required for a single bullet to hit the neck which is so much covered with garlands, duppatas and that too in such a noisy crowd within a short span of time involves more precision than crashing the size of plane into a size of a building. in one of CNN footage they showed a gun lying on the ground after the attack which was purported to be the weapon. now how long should it take to trace it ? why is there no news abt related to that ? i am still wondering as to how far the shot was fired from coz that will hold the clue since CNN shwoed such a small gun. And note that Bhutto was standing through the sun-roof of the car which as in the photograph is way tall. So if the gun man was standing in the crowd then he should have to shoot at an angle into the air and also as CNN showed there were a lot of folks surrounding the car. This seems to be a too successful a shot.

  18. 267 · Priya said

    it think the amount of precision required for a single bullet to hit the neck which is so much covered with garlands, duppatas and that too in such a noisy crowd within a short span of time involves more precision than crashing the size of plane into a size of a building. in one of CNN footage they showed a gun lying on the ground after the attack which was purported to be the weapon. now how long should it take to trace it ? why is there no news abt related to that ? i am still wondering as to how far the shot was fired from coz that will hold the clue since CNN shwoed such a small gun. And note that Bhutto was standing through the sun-roof of the car which as in the photograph is way tall. So if the gun man was standing in the crowd then he should have to shoot at an angle into the air and also as CNN showed there were a lot of folks surrounding the car. This seems to be a too successful a shot.

    Hey, now this blog has really reached prime time! Welcome, Oliver Stone! Back, and to the left! Back, and to the left!

  19. Priya, sniper shooter rifles are usually equipped with long-range zoom lenses and image-stabilizers making it not too difficult to shoot with precision.

    My comment about the planes was to suggest that these people aren’t technologically backward, not to compare the precision requirements :).

    I don’t think one can make any sort of conclusion regarding the perpetrators or rule the terrorists out based on the precision of the sharp shooter.

  20. Ighnore my previous post and all speculation about sniper precision – I forgot that the gunman was standing with the crowd, and he was supposedly using an AK-47. Could it be tht he just aimed roughly and pulled the trigger and a couple of bullets hit Bhutto on neck and skull?

  21. Priya, sniper shooter rifles are usually equipped with long-range zoom lenses and image-stabilizers making it not too difficult to shoot with precision

    .

    the gun they showed on CNN was a small one – sten-gun type and not rifle. Rifle would have been very conspicious in the crowd unless he was acting as one of the security personnel right from beginning of the rally.

  22. I wonder what happens next, both for Pakistan and for India. If the jihadis take over in the ensuing chaos, that has major ramifications for India and also the rest of the world to some extent. India might do better, for its own safety, to play some part to ensure that moderates hold power in Pak going forward. Whether they’re democratic or military reps is secondary really.

  23. 52 · Priya said

    I am kind of shocked coz just last night I was reading recent BB’s Newsweek interview which I posted on SM in a different context. And now this morning I wake up to this news. In fact one of the question that was asked to BB was about her assassination
    the gun they showed on CNN was a small one – sten-gun type and not rifle. Rifle would have been very conspicious in the crowd unless he was acting as one of the security personnel right from beginning of the rally.

    What if the shooter used a BB gun?

  24. 270 · someone said

    I forgot that the gunman was standing with the crowd, and he was supposedly using an AK-47.

    Actually in the morning when the news began CNN was saying AK-47 but then they changed it smaller sten-gun lying on the ground. If the guns survived the blast then they should have some leads on that unless it has been hushed by the security agencies

  25. i am still wondering as to how far the shot was fired from coz that will hold the clue since CNN shwoed such a small gun.

    It’s not the size of the gun that matters, it’s how you use it.

  27. “Agree with Ardy that neither Indira nor BB did anything special for women, but then neither did Margaret Thatcher or Golda Meir or Sirimavo Bandaranaike, though Cory Aquino is said to have accomplished reforms that improved women’s lives, and she left office alive as well.”

    Well, according to the The Global Gender Gap of 2007 carried out by the World Economic Forum, Sri Lanka is 15 in the world when it comes to gender equality. The only other Asian country in the top 20 is the Philippines at number 6. In 2006, Sri Lanka’s position was 13. In comparison, Bangladesh is placed at 100, India at 114 and Pakistan at 126. The top three countries when it comes to gender equality are Sweden, Norway, Finland.

    http://www.asianoffbeat.com/default.asp?Display=1218

  28. Bangladesh is placed at 100, India at 114

    Bangladesh does better on gender equality than India?? You learn something every day.

    Interesting to me that Sri Lanka is at 15 while Tamil Nadu is a leading state in female infanticide. One would’ve thought their close geographical and somewhat cultural proximity would show up in these numbers.

    BTW, I suspect that Kerala with the most number of Christians in India and the highest literacy rate (some 98%) would perform well on this index if you split the India numbers state-wise. Also, Christians are the most literate and gender-equal community in India, according to the latest Indian census, so if you split the India numbers community-wise, they’d probably do well.

  29. She is supposed to have been wearing bullet-proof accessories, she is wearing a dupatta and a garland that seems to give minimal view of her neck. In spite of this killer was near perfect in aiming her neck. Doesn’t this suggest a possible handiwork of a professional sniper ?

    Priya, you could also take it that the sniper missed her face by a foot

  30. Did you guys see SEPIAMUTINY.COM featured live on CNN a few minutes ago? By an African-American correspondent at the International Desk… She was QUOTING from several of YOUR POSTS! Including “someone,” “Candadai Tirumalai,” and “Ponniyin Selvan”…

    interesting.. I wonder how they pronounced my handle..

  31. it think the amount of precision required for a single bullet to hit the neck which is so much covered with garlands, duppatas and that too in such a noisy crowd within a short span of time involves more precision than crashing the size of plane into a size of a building.

    Priya, not only does DizzyDesi (#279) make a good point, but also…come on…do you think the presence of a dupatta and a garland make it difficult to shoot someone’s neck? Like, do you think the shooter could only aim for whatever little tiny part of her neck was exposed and visible, because otherwise there was no way the bullet could go through a dupatta???

  32. Bhutto was not a saint but what we seem to be losing sight of, is that she was brutally murdered in the prime of her life (54 is fairly young for a politician) and that murder should never be means of settling scores with your political opponents and is nothing to be gleeful about. Also,like her or not you have to admit her death has left a void in Pakistan’s politics that doesn’t seem like it is going to be filled easily. We are left with Nawaz Sharif and Musharraf hardly paragons of virtue, themselves.

  33. Yogi, I think you summed it up beautifully and I agree with you 100% (although I disagree with your assessment about Indira Gandhi).

  34. “Interesting to me that Sri Lanka is at 15 while Tamil Nadu is a leading state in female infanticide. One would’ve thought their close geographical and somewhat cultural proximity would show up in these numbers.”

    Well, Tamils are a minority in Sri Lanka. Population wise, the Sinhalese form around 74% of the population, Sri Lankan Tamils 12%, Indian (Upcountry) Tamils 6% and Moors/Malays 7%. The group most culturally similar to those in Tamil Nadu would be the Indian (Upcountry) Tamils who have a relatively recent history in Sri Lanka, having been brought in as indentured labour by the British. In my experience at least, female infanticide is unheard of in Sri Lanka.

    An article that might be of interest:

    Sex Preference in South Asia: Sri Lanka an Outlier http://tinyurl.com/3cv2ve

    Why is Sri Lanka an outlier in South Asia with regard to sex preference? Compared with other South Asian countries, the status of women in Sri Lanka is found to be more advanced. The many social welfare programmes carried out during the post-independence decades did create many favourable conditions which promoted greater participation of women in the development process. These include (a) rapid expansion of literacy and educational attainment of women, (b) improved life expectancy and decline in fertility and (c) wider participation of women in formal and informal economic activities.

  35. Thanks Amitabh for your kind words. I am wondering what about my assessment of IG do you take issue with? but I guess if we talk about IG it will probably considered to be completely off the topic, may be we can talk about it on some other thread at some other time.

  36. Bhutto was not a saint but what we seem to be losing sight of, is that she was brutally murdered in the prime of her life (54 is fairly young for a politician) and that murder should never be means of settling scores with your political opponents and is nothing to be gleeful about.

    I do not think anybody here expressed glee or condoned the assassination, that is a gross and completely unjustifiable misrepresentation of the comments. But hagiography is not called for either.

  37. 281 · Amitabh said

    Priya, not only does DizzyDesi (#279) make a good point, but also…come on…do you think the presence of a dupatta and a garland make it difficult to shoot someone’s neck? Like, do you think the shooter could only aim for whatever little tiny part of her neck was exposed and visible, because otherwise there was no way the bullet could go through a dupatta???

    I agree abt missing the face by a foot argument. But look at the amount of crowd surrounding the car and jostling around going on which would make it so difficult to take such a nice aim at the neck/face and that too at an angle into the air. The attacker blew himself up and killed twenty people which means he must have been very close to or in the crowd.

    It’s not the size of the gun that matters, it’s how you use it.

    Partly true but the velocity of bullet, range is determined by the type of gun. The picture shown on CNN looked like a pistol/hand-gun and not long range rifles/AK-47. I am still wondering why no news channel is talking abt the gun that was used to kill. It is the most basic thing to ask to find out who killed Bhutto. Instead all the news channels are talking about all the other things in the world.

  38. I do not think anybody here expressed glee or condoned the assassination, that is a gross and completely unjustifiable misrepresentation of the comments.

    Well I didn’t mean that the commentators were happy that she was dead but many comments went on and on about terrible she was and losing sight of what had just happened. There were many snarky comments too and they did sound a tad gleeful. I was paraphrasing and didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings.

    But hagiography is not called for either

    agreed.

    I am neither a big fan of Benazir’s nor am I hater. To me she represented hope of what Pakistan could have been but never became. Yes her previous tenures as Prime minister were nothing to write home about, may be she would have made a better leader this time around having learned from her mistakes. Well we will never know now. I mourn the lost potential. Any way I am done with this thread.

  39. Look at this photograph from another angle a few minutes before her death. Look at the crowd around her. The guy in that jostling crowd did a mighty good job to take a aim at her face and miss it and hit her neck.

  40. Now Pakistan is changing the story. It seems not bullets but splinters unleased from the explosions that killed Bhutto. It is really getting murky now.

  41. Conspiracy theories are easily mocked, but Pakistan is a country where the culprits in Zia’s death (and the American ambassador) are still unknown, and where shadowy, conspiratorial forces actually do exist.

    The Bhutto clan does not lack enemies, and while it is plausible to blame assorted Jihadis, it could just as likely be a more traditional Bhutto enemy, like the Chaudhrys of Gujrat. Former Prime Minsiter and PML(Q) leader Chaudhry Shujaat’s father was killed the gunmen from “Al-ZulfikarË™” a terrorist organization led by Murtaza Bhutto. Murtaza Bhutto was later killed by Karachi police, possibly on the orders of his brother-in-law Asif Zardari (according to Fatima Bhutto). Benazir, on her return the Pakistan this year, names Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi a possible threat to her life.

    It’s in everyone’s interest to blame anonymous Jihadis (including the publicity-hungry Jihadis themselves), but it may not be the truth.

  42. I don’t think anyone’s dismissing what was good about her. But I don’t see the need to absolve her of her sins simply because she died violently, either.

    I’m really with Salil and cc on this one. There are two different immediate issues — one is people’s feelings towards the manner of Bhutto’s death, and the other involves their feelings towards her legacy and role as a politician and person. I think it’s fair to say that many people on this site find assassination violent and repugnant, and there seems to be a relative consensus condemning the manner of her death. What I find boggling are the number of comments praising her “bravery” or her role as “Pakistan’s savior.” I don’t think we should extol someone’s virtues or exhalt him/her simply because s/he was a political mark or happened to die in a violent, extralegal, and inhumane manner.

    I think some of the speculation on this thread regarding Bhutto’s place in Pakistani politics and the repercussions of her assassination on the future success of Pakistan are over-broad. Bhutto was a complicated figure, and there was NOT a consensus on whether her term in office and her subsequent exile and return to Pakistan were good or bad for the people of Pakistan. She was by no means a “savior” or “hope for Pakistan’s future” — these comments are offensive, arrogant, and reductionist. This was the rhetoric promoted in the West and in Western media, as though Bhutto were some “golden child” under self-exile because of the big bad processes of military rule and fundamentalism in Pakistan. Her exile was fueled, in no small part, by her tremendously incompetent time in office, her flagrant abuse of power, and her nepotism (which is not necessarily unique to other Pakistani PMs or other world leaders).

    Her assassination is not a symbol that “Pakistan is not ready for democracy” or that Pakistan is an inherently flawed or crippled civil society. In fact, if Pakistan were so fragile a state that her murder would lead to a complete failure and civil war, then it would be evidence that an order, of any form, was not possible. I think people underestimate the strength of the country. Further, it is incorrect and presumptuous to think that political assassinations are “unique” to South Asia, or Pakistan specifically. While Bhutto’s assassination will certainly promote instability and cast a suspicious eye towards Musharraf’s weakening stronghold on power, I would seriously doubt that this is the “straw that broke the camel’s back” in light of all the other domestic and foreign policy issues taxing Pakistan today.

    It’s possible to condemn this event without limiting valid discourse, and I appreciate the diversity of opinions, both laudatory and critical of Bhutto, that do just that.

  43. This seems to be the version from the doctor. Three shots fired from the back. One hit her neck and one her back. But she didn’t have showed no sign of bullet injury. Assuming that she is wearing bullet-proof clothing that protects her back.. Can anybody explain me how there is nothing on her neck ? The shrapnel seems to have caused cardiac arrest due to brain injury/fracture

  45. That’s a good point, but I don’t think it was about consideration for her “family and friends”. I thought the consideration was for the far less lofty, anonymous people who have nowhere but here to emote about this. Why not delay the criticism for a day and let people grieve?

    not jenn,

    well i guess i’m more of a robot than the mainstream (or my heart is composed of 2/3 coal and 1/3 muscle) but I just can’t understand extending this ‘grace period’ for criticism on account of people who felt she best represented hopes for a better Pakistan. They may have lost some strange sort of hope (irrational at best) but nothing tangible.

    I can understand doing so for the people who lost a family member/friend in the attack (which obviously includes people other than Bhutto’s relatives) but I always saw this tendency to imbue flawed, self-appointed saviors with god-like powers to change the status quo as a part of the larger social trend in south asia to have mass mournings (which inevitably include deaths from ‘unrest’ or suicides due to grief at the passing of whatever celeb/politician)for people who either didn’t really give a toss as to what the average villager did with their life or didn’t have the power/motivation/means/method to accomplish anything good for the common person.

  47. Priya,

    I suspect that a lot of news coming out right now is controlled and as someone upthread mentioned, I am not sure we will ever know the truth.

  48. Priya, there are myriad ways to explain this. First we’ll have to wait on the ME’s report on what caused her death: shrapnel, or a bullet fired from a gun.

    Her injuries as the media have described them don’t rule out bullet wounds. Depending on the gun in question, the type of ammunition being used, and the tendency for the bullet from that particular gun to tumble or fragment, you can have horrible internal injuries with relatively minor-looking entrance wounds. Modern trauma surgeons know a ton about this, thanks to the frequency with which people shoot each other (and the time they spend patching people up).

    I don’t think there’s any need to start creating conspiracies here, especially when there’s already one in plain sight: she was assasinated. You don’t need a gunman on a grassy knoll, you need to understand who’d murder her, and why they’d want that. So it’s unlikely that some “professional sniper” was perched up in a building somewhere. The logistics behind an assassination are tricky enough–who’d complicate things by planning a killing where you double your chances of being found out by using two killers whose methods might actually interrupt each other?

    The mode of killing fits in with the Taliban / Al Quaeda method of late: shoot ’em up, and go out with a bang.

  49. I’m rather skeptical about the news coming out right now. It almost always tends to be conflicted and chaotic, especially in a situation like this. Besides, I’m no doctor, but precisely how would a skull fracture lead to cardiac arrest? I can definitely see brain damage or a coma, or something like that, but cardiac arrest?

    The best thing to do is probably wait it out, keep abreast of the news, and see where things stand in a few days, or even a few weeks.

    Does anyone know whether an autopsy was done?

  50. Conspiracy theories are easily mocked, but Pakistan is a country where the culprits in Zia’s death (and the American ambassador) are still unknown, and where shadowy, conspiratorial forces actually do exist.

    In fact, it is our responsibility as citizens of this world to disseminate, and if need be, create armchair hypotheses.