Pak Press
Dawn: Dream snuffed out, bitter ironies, questions unlikely to be answered:
Among sinking hearts, an emptiness, and doom and gloom many questions will need to be answered. Did she die because she was a woman politician swimming against the tide of obscurantism? Did she die because she was in the process of staging a comeback after being dismissed twice on charges of corruption and misconduct? Did she die because she represented the aspirations of millions of her supporters — supporters so committed that they refused to blame the party leadership for many unfulfilled dreams?
The reception accorded to her as she returned home, ending years in exile on October 18, was a demonstration of such selfless dedication by several hundred thousand supporters. More than 150 people, mostly PPP activists, died in the bombing aimed at her that night in Karachi. Her supporters knew very well she was the target and yet thronged each venue she appeared at. Such was their bond.
While we appeal for restraint, the anger and the frustration of PPP supporters is understandable. The sniper’s bullet has snatched their dreams from them. Will we ever know who killed her?
She died literally yards from where Liaquat Ali Khan was felled by an assassin’s bullet and probably a mile from where her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, had his life snuffed out by the hangman’s noose. We know nothing about Liaquat Ali Khan’s murder and very little about Z.A. Bhutto’s killing beyond what his supporters say was a judicial murder.
Dawn’s roundup of bank burnings, bakery burnings, gas station burnings, car burnings, train burnings and shootings here and here.
The International News: Bhutto funeral.
The Nation: National outrage. Editorial, threat to solidarity demands real moves to democracy:
The tragedy has occurred at a most crucial phase in the country’s history when there has been an upsurge of pro-democracy popular sentiment pitted in a bitter struggle against the one-man rule to wrest political power and restore it to where it rightfully belongs: the people’s representatives. There was hope, albeit faint, that there would be free and fair elections on January 8 to be followed by a popular government and the recent unseemly happenings would gradually fade away from memory. But the nation that was looking up to the polling day as a possible day of deliverance is now wondering how the events are going to take their course.
Irrespective of the fact which evil forces were behind this gruesome murder, fingers will inevitably be pointed. And the assumption will be that in their mad pursuit of eliminating an indomitable political rival they lost sight of the threat their ill-advised act would pose to the country’s solidarity. Already, riots and incident of wanton rampage have been reported from major towns of the country. Strong condemnations and expressions of shock and dismay have poured in from abroad, including President Bush and Prime Minister Brown. The State Department has condemned the murder and said that it would constitute a great setback to the reconciliation process. India has been put on high alert. Unquestionably, it is a grave security lapse. While the President’s appeal for calm at this critical hour is appropriate and must be heeded, it is a moment of reflection for him how the pervasive and dangerous the extremist mindset, not much in evidence in the 1990s, has become since he joined hands with the US in its so-called war on terror. He should be taking steps to pave the way for the restoration of real democracy.
So a quick scan of Pak news is not producing much in the way of practical information or suggestions on the political lay of the land and where things might be headed. My own brief venture back from editing into reporting yesterday produced two basic opinions: Dire threat to stability, military crackdown will drive people to Islamists, danger of coup, danger of disintegration and good times for AQ. The other was back to the future, restoration of status quo: Pakistan, never fully matured as a democracy, reverts to status quo. The military, as the only stable governing institution, enforces stability, and the less than adequate cooperationin the war on terrorism continues.
This Peshawar Frontier Post commentary points to some of the issues raised by the news analysis pals whose acquaintance I renewed yesterday, however:
At the time of Bhutto’s assassination Pakistan was debating whether the coming elections were going to be free and fair or there were plans to steal them from the real representatives of the people. There was always a question mark whether the elections were going to be transparent and now another question mark will hang over the issue as to whether the inquiry into the assassination of Bhutto is going to be transparent. Whatever the outcome of the official inquiry, in case it was delayed and no plausible explanation was provided to the people of Pakistan for this dastardly act, the nation could well be on a perilous journey. In future that may have more dangers and tragedies for the country. For the present the immediate casualty after this assassination is going to be the restoration of democracy because elections without Benazir Bhutto will be irrelevant and are likely to be postponed allowing some healing time to the people of this country. The timing of this assassination could not have come at a worse time for the country because Pakistan was facing insurgency in a strategic belt of NWFP and serious law and order problems in Balochistan in addition to this, will now have to cope with with Sindhis feeling to be betrayed yet again when the daughter of a great Sindhi Politician Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was cut down by an assassin’s bullet plunging the country into serious turmoil and chaos. Bhutto may no longer exist in the physical world but her shadow will continue to reign over a vast majority of Pakistanis for a foreseeable period of time.
Adil Najam, a former Pak journo now occupying an IR chair at Boston University, George Friedman of Stratfor.com, regular GWOT touchstone, and Larry Goodson, Afghan/Pak scholar at the U.S. Army War College, all voices I was glad to hear again after three years in yesterday’s brief reporting foray, all pointed to Pakistan’s multi-layered ethnic issues, in addition to tensions between secularists, Islamists, pro-democracy, military and your full political spectrum on top of that. All three called it a highly volatile mix, though Goodson and Friedman were of the opinion the military will take control and Pakistan will “muddle through.” Najam is more concerned about the “high risk” of instability and the potential for Islamist opportunism at the “epicenter of the war on terror,” gaining ground amid disillusionment and the violence of political reaction and the crackdown. I’m listening to political condemnations of the Bush administration on the radio this morning, but these and other observers note that to the extent that U.S. policy has influenced events in Pakistan, it has been the willingness across decades to back the default military option, in a rather cynical and flighty fashion, with little regard for Pakistan’s development as a stable democracy. Goodson noted that this is not simply a matter of maintaining a GWOT ally, once a Cold War ally, and there are other issues apart from concern about Islamic nukes. China has made deep inroads and invested heavily in Pakistan, flanking India and us in a modern great game that is likely to outlast the GWOT and is equally a matter of U.S. interest. We ignore Pakistan at our peril.
Herald package here.
Meanwhile, it’s always worth checking in on the Indian press.
Pakistan has fallen off the edge … Her death not only signifies how deeply mired in violence Pakistani politics is, but it also points to the total change in the political atmosphere that has undergone in that country under the leadership of Pervez Musharraf. This was no assassination in some jehadi corner of Pakistan. It took place in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, the heart of Pakistani Army-ruled Pakistan, where on April 9, 1979 Ms Bhutto’s father was hanged. It is too early to say who or which institution was behind the murder. But it has proved to be too late for Ms Bhutto and for any chances of believing Mr Musharraf’s insistence that democracy in Pakistan is only an election away.
Pakistan is in trouble … With Thursday’s deaths, it seems that the post-9/11 destabilising forces in Pakistan have been joined by more sinister, historical forces that mark their presence throughout the country’s bloody history.
Assassinations in the subcontinent, as we in this country know all too well, are not a Pakistani monopoly. But the time and manner in which Ms Bhutto has been killed can only point to more bloodshed. What happened in Rawalpindi is shocking and yet was not a bolt from the blue. Ms Bhutto was aware of the threat to her life when she returned from exile earlier this year. Regardless of who ultimately claims responsibility — or, in keeping with Pakistani history, doesn’t — Mr Musharraf has much to answer for. For Pakistan has come to this. The light of Larkana has gone out of Pakistan. With it, so seems any chance of peace, never mind of democratic peace, in that unfortunate, unfortunate land.
Times of India: elite Pak Rangers issued shoot-to-kill orders in Sindh. There’s the beginning of your crackdown.
TOI editorial, Hell Next Door:
Benazir Bhutto’s assassination in a gun and bomb attack, at a rally in Rawalpindi, is an enormous tragedy not just for Pakistan but also for all of South Asia. Indeed, perhaps the world. The world needs to be extremely anxious about the state of Pakistan following this heinous murder. This is not a routine assassination, because it snuffs out whatever faint hope there was of free and fair elections early next year.
Only last week, US defence secretary Robert Gates said that the prime focus of Al-Qaida is now Pakistan. It was already the most dangerous nation on earth, with nuclear weapons, a record of proliferation, and Islamic terrorists rampaging in its tribal areas. Cut it whichever way you like, the assassination of Benazir is a shot in the arm of Al-Qaida. It would have been mortified by the idea of a democratic, moderate state in Pakistan, even more by a pro-western, woman leader in charge.
But the terrorist attack on the convoy welcoming Benazir back from exile, which killed hundreds, followed soon after by this latest, successful attempt at assassinating her, shows that terrorism is now lodged in the heart of Pakistan. It’s getting worse, not better. It’s now time for the international community, led by the United States, to brainstorm and do something about Pakistan, soon. And while everyone puts their heads together, the starting point must be to realise that tried and tested approaches have failed. The top priority has to be stabilising the nation.
That might seem, at first sight, to mean reinforcing the military and emergency powers for Musharraf. But it’s precisely on their watch that Pakistan has arrived at its present parlous state. Musharraf’s administration has focused its energies on targeting lawyers, political activists, supreme court judges and mediapersons, sending thousands of peaceful activists to jail. While being unable to prevent terrorists from striking at will, not even in Rawalpindi, which is a garrison city as well as ISI’s home base. The military has also been diverting aid meant for frontline troops fighting the Taliban and the Al-Qaida, for the sake of trophy arms purchases if not outright corruption.
Even if it seems counter-intuitive at first instance, there has to be at least a medium-term plan to get the military out of the way and make Pakistan a democracy with strong institutions in place. Making Musharraf the main prop of the nation’s stability has failed, decisively.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:31 am on Friday, December 28, 2007
3 Responses to “Pak Press”
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December 28th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Catch this act, Jules.
Pakistan: Bhutto Died of Skull Fracture
Breitbart
December 28th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
I’d be watching Sharif these days; while the complicity of the ISI is of great interest, few are checking to see how Nawaz benefits.
Cheers
December 29th, 2007 at 1:55 am
As nice as it would be for the world to put its “head” together to figure out a solution to the problem of Pakistan, I think that is one of the sillier suggestions I’ve heard. We’ve played favorites all over the place, backing this and that dictator of the moment, in our so-called realist real-politic stupidity that acts on the premise of the next five minutes; we’ve done this since WWII. We began by allowing a bunch of 7th century Bedouins to nationalize the oil that the west discovered and produced, without so much as a by-your-leave, or even a whimper of complaint. We’ve given them the means, both financial and technical, to attack us, to kill us.
The chickens are coming home to roost–with a vengeance.