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Old 2007-12-28, 01:07   Link #250
Kinny Riddle
Gone for Good
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Quote:
Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf View Post
Obituary: Benazir Bhutto




My first reaction on seeing today's headlines was surprise. Then sadness at the realisation that another icon of our times has died under the most violent circumstances.

Her death is starkly reminiscent of the way that both Ghandi and Mrs Indira Ghandi had died many years ago. A sad reflection on the way politics is conducted on the Indian subcontinent.

To be sure, I do not really know much about Ms Benazir Bhutto, other than that she was once a very charismatic prime minister of Pakistan, and that she was toppled from power due to alleged corruption.

I do know that she was a famous person I often read about or watched on TV news. And I was also vaguely aware that she had only just returned to Pakistan not long ago, after a period of exile. Ironically, if she had not returned, she might still be alive today.

I can't say that she had been good for Pakistan. As far as Pakistani or Indian leaders go though, she was par on course for the norm. She was perhaps just a little more memorable for being the first woman to assume the highest political office in her nation.

This is how democracy works outside of the developed world. Not for the first time, I think it's premature to introduce democractic government in countries where the rule of law is not yet guaranteed. It's comforting to think that democractic, market-based capitalism may represent the End of History, but we should never forget that less than one quarter of the world lives in truly democratic governments today.

I'd say we're very, very far from "The End" indeed.

Rest in peace, Ms Benazir Bhutto.
Absolute madness, simply because these extremists cannot stand to have a secular woman in charge over their heads. These extremists have again and again sullied the name of the supposedly peaceful religion called Islam.

It's an open secret that Pakistan's security forces, which contains fundamentalist sympathizers, want Bhutto dead. It was them who orchestrated the coup and execution against her father, also an ex-PM, and it was also them who orchestrated the death of the general who toppled her father, so that they could remain in power by installing her as PM. Again, it was them who made up those corruption charges once they realized Bhutto was beyond their control.

So even if Musharraf is not the culprit, he's partly to blame for allowing such extremist elements in his security forces to infiltrate Bhutto's motorcade and thus allow any would-be suicide assassins to get near her.

It will take a long time for Pakistan to sort herself out with her departure.
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