December 27, 2007

Benazir Assassinated!

At 6:46 PM (Indian Standard Time), Benazir Bhutto, the charismatic Pakistani Leader, was assassinated after she had addressed an election rally in Rawalpindi. She was shot at from a close range in an suicide attack.

This will definitely result in postponing of the elections that were going to be held in Pakistan as the first step in the return to democracy. What the effect of this assassination will be on the future of Pakistan and the Indian sub-continent will be seen only in time. The news, at the time of writing this, is that General Musharraf is holding a meeting to decide what the future of the election process will be.

This incident is another victory for the fundamentalist and the anti-democratic forces in Pakistan, and a big loss to the peace process in and around the Indian sub-continent.

My prayers are wishes are with the assassinated leader and her family. May her soul rest in peace.

4 comments:

SandyCarlson said...

I thought of you immediately when I read the headline in today's paper. This is awful. May those who seek peace be as audacious as those who would destroy it.

Paulie said...

Yes, many in the United States are sad upon her death also. She was a person to be admired. I had hoped for good things to happen through her. Prayers for her family. . .

DoubleDeckerBusGuy said...

The really sad thing is, when it happened, I simply shot Sue an e-mail with the story from the BBC with the note, "They got her."

I had to watch the situation unfold... her return to a hostile environment, the truck bomb that went off between the airport and her home, and finally, her assassination... and realise that she knew she was off to be a martyr. The letter she sent several reporters before she was killed kinda proves this.

I wonder why democracy won't work for these people? If indeed, there are free and democratic elections, why not work to ensure that YOUR candidate wins... or the alternative candidate (at least) does not win the election by dint of votes? Why create martyrs and fear?

I suppose we may never know these answers...

But as a Canadian, I watched the last U.S. elections... and the one's previous... and knew that the MAJORITY of American citizens did not want George W. Bush as president... but through strategic voting and counting on the general apathy of the public, he squeaked in once... and then, using ONLY the apathy of the voting public, he managed to get more of his supporters to vote and got his second term... even though, again, it's not really indicative of the "vox populi"...

Still, no one in America felt the need to assassinate the man... though many would argue he's a worthy candidate... because his term is short lived. He will NOT be president in 2008. It's impossible. In fact, it's illegal for a president to have more than two consecutive terms in the US...

Those that are AGAINST Bush will simply rally... and work to ensure a more moderate candidate will be elected.

So, if this is democracy... why can this behaviour not exist in Pakistan?

Last thing... Does Pakistan realise how these news items and acts look to the outside world? Do they care? If not, why?

It's a sad and troubled world we live in...

CyberCelt said...

Awful news. I felt a bit like I did when I heard Anwar Sadat had been assassinated. Do we always kill the peace makers?

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