Ominous Thoughts

Here's a bit from a Washington Post article about Pakistan's prospects in 2008.

"The country has already suffered so much. Can't we honor Bhutto's legacy by making peace?" said Muddassir Masood, 33, who works in the cellphone industry. "But everyone has an agenda now. Bhutto's party wants the election held because it will get the sympathy vote. The government knows that and wants to put it off. But as always, this is politics in Pakistan, and as always, it is the Pakistanis who will suffer if there is street violence."

Zia Kazim, 59, a pilot with Pakistan International Airlines who was having New Year's dinner with his wife, a hotel owner, said he was relieved that the couple's two adult children are living in Richmond, Va."There will be violence if the election is held on Jan. 8 or violence if it's postponed. Basically the country is stuck in quicksand," he said. "Things in Pakistan are, unfortunately, only getting worse."

Soapy Soapy Time

Recently, someone sent me this message about Ms. Bhutto, and I got his permission to respond to it via this blog.

"Lets not forget that Bhutto is perhaps the only person more corrupt then Musharaff. Thats why onlt like 6% of the population supported her."

I will concede that Bhutto more than likely had an element of corruption, but I honestly cannot say how much. However, I think I can safely say that she was NOT on the same level as Musharraf. Remember, Musharraf is the one who came to power via a military coup in 1999. He was a military leader from the git-go who got lucky when the US was looking for allies in the war on terror.

Although, the argument could be made that Musharraf has had more opportunities to be corrupt because he's been in office much longer than Bhutto ever was and has enjoyed much more power.

As far as her supporters, I can't find any information on the percentage of the population, but from all the sources I've read, it is accepted that she enjoys significant grass roots support. If we all agree that elections in Pakistan are a sham, then its no use looking at the percentage of the population that has voted for her party, the Pakistan People's Party, in the last elections.

I don't think Bhutto was the most effective leader, or would have been the most effective, anyway. But she was dynamic in her ability to gain populist support, and bring important issues of democracy to the forefront of Pakistani politics. There is no question in my mind that she believed she was doing what was right and good, and she was going to do it no matter who opposed her. I may not have agreed with what she did or would have done in office, but I have to respect and admire her determination and courage. It is very sad that she was not the most competent of politicians to begin with, but its even more tragic that this is how she has come to an end.

And that is my soap box moment. Thank you all for coming.

Hmm...No

According to the BBC, the Pakistani government has issued a statement saying the official cause of Ms Bhutto's death was "a knock on the head" from ducking into her vehicle and not bullets or shrapnel.

That's totally ridiculous. It goes against the testimony of many eye witnesses who have said she was shot twice before the suicide bomber's explosion went off. It sounds to me like the government is trying to play down the event, hoping that the martyr mystique will dissipate.

I don't think ascribing her death to a "knock on the head" is going to do it.

Oligarchical jerkfaces.

Benazir's Life Part III

What happened?

After a rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Mrs. Bhutto got into her bulletproof vehicle and then popped her head through the roof to wave at the throngs of supporters. The Washington Post reports:

She raised her torso through the hatch, and several gunshots rang out, an aide seated next to her said. Just as Bhutto sank into her seat, a large bomb detonated outside the vehicle. The left side of Bhutto's face was badly bloodied, aides said, but it was not clear whether she'd been killed by bullets or by shrapnel from the bombing. She lost consciousness, and never regained it.

The explosion, apparently caused by a suicide bomber, killed at least 20 people outside Bhutto's car and injured many others. Police were investigating whether the bomber was also the gunman. One possibility was that the assailant fired the shots and then, after being tackled by security officials, detonated the bomb.

Who was behind this?

Mrs. Bhutto herself said on numerous occasions that the attempts on her life were helped by the Pakistani government. They may not have initiated any of the attacks, but they did little to prevent them or protect her. For the attacks themselves, she put the blame on extremists.

From the same Washington Post article:

Although no group has claimed responsibility for Bhutto's killing, Western leaders immediately pointed to the Islamic extremist groups operating with increasing intensity in Pakistan, including those with links to al-Qaeda. Musharraf also blamed Islamic extremists.

What does this mean not only for Pakistan, but for the US?

Mrs. Bhutto was considered a crucial partner in creating a stable and democratic Pakistan that would be able to expel terrorists who intended to use the country as a base. A stable Pakistan would also benefit American interests in neighboring Afghanistan.

From a different Washington Post article:

Without Bhutto, Musharraf has virtually no major political allies willing to take positions widely unpopular in Pakistan but critical to U.S. interests. A Pew Survey last summer found only 15 percent of Pakistanis had a favorable view of the United States.

Bhutto's assassination during a campaign stop in Rawalpindi also puts in doubt prospects that an election can produce a credible government, former policymakers and analysts said.

"More broadly, this is a major loss because the elections scheduled for early January had the potential to move the country forward," said Daniel Markey of the Council on Foreign Relations. "Despite her past failures, she was still a legitimate leader who could have worked with Musharraf and the army to have an accommodation in Islamabad."

The State Department called on President Musharraf and others in the Pakistani government "to do everything they can to create the conditions on the ground to have as free and fair and transparent an election as possible," Casey told reporters. "No political system can last long without having legitimacy in the eyes of its people."

The United States is particularly concerned about the potential for initial demonstrations to become open-ended protests against the Musharraf government. U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson is also reaching out to other opposition parties and civil society groups to urge calm, U.S. officials said.

Benazir's Life: Part II

How did we get to the situation in Pakistan today?

It seems that the War on Terror was the best thing to ever happen for Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. The alliance with the US gave him international legitimacy and solidified his power.

As the BBC describes, Musharraf awarded himself another 5 years as president in 2002 together with the power to dismiss an elected parliament. Parliamentary elections in the same year saw a hand over from military to civilian rule with the election of a civilian prime minister. Even though Musharraf had promised to relinquish his military role, he was very slow at actually doing it.

The big hullaballoo came in October 2007, when he won the support of most parilamentarians in the presidential elections.

The Supreme Court had earlier ruled that the winner could not be formally announced before it had ruled on whether General Musharraf was eligible to stand.

In early November, the general pre-empted the Supreme Court's ruling on his eligibility by imposing emergency rule and dismissing judges opposed to his candidacy, a move that received widespread condemnation in the international community. The new Supreme Court then confirmed President Musharraf's right to stand, clearing the way for him to become a civilian leader. He quit his army post soon afterwards.

Lawyers took to the streets in protest, generating such iconic photos as above, of men in western suits rioting and being beaten.

Why she came back.

Mrs. Bhutto returned to Pakistan from exile in Dubai to oppose Musharraf's actions and push for a true democracy. She called for Musharraf's resignation numerous times and urged the people to protest. On October 18th 2007, she arrived in Karachi. On her way to a homecoming rally, two bombs exploded near her motorcade, killing at least 130 people. The following is from a BBC report on her return:

When she first stepped onto Pakistani soil at Karachi airport Ms Bhutto was overcome with emotion and burst into tears.

Many PPP supporters have been bussed in from outlying areas by the party - a show of organisational strength which the ex-prime minister hopes will boost her chances of a return to power, correspondents report.

The BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Karachi says that despite being away for eight years, Ms Bhutto is still enormously popular as a scion of Pakistan's pre-eminent political dynasty.

About 20,000 troops and police have been deployed in the city to oversee Ms Bhutto's arrival amid threats by Islamist militants to assassinate both her and Gen Musharraf.

Gen Musharraf had asked Ms Bhutto to delay her return until the Supreme Court decided whether he was eligible to serve as president for another term.

During her time in Pakistan, she was placed under house arrest, and was under constant fear of attacks.

Benazir's Life: Part I

Who was Benazir Bhutto? Part I

Mrs. Bhutto was the first woman elected to lead a Muslim state. She was elected to the office of Prime Minister of Pakistan twice, the first time in 1988 and then again in 1996.

She came from a very prestigious and political family. Her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was the President of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973 and the Prime Minister from 1973 to 1977. Zulfikar was executed in 1979 under the leadership of General Zia ul Haq for the charge of attempted murder.

She was educated at both Radcliffe and Harvard.

Time.com remarks that her political career was marked by "great populist spectacles and little governmental achievement". The article goes on:

However, in the final analysis, her career was an almost tawdry cycle of exile, house arrest, ascent into power and dismissal, much sound and fury and signifying little. Jailed and then exiled after her father's fall, Bhutto returned to campaign for office in 1986 after Zia's military government gave in to international pressure to slowly restore democracy. (Despite his dictatorship, Zia was a key ally of the West, supporting the Mujaheddin against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.)...

Zia's death in a plane crash in August 1988 helped to further loosen the military strictures around the country, and Bhutto became Prime Minister by December of that year. As a ruler, Bhutto got few favorable reviews in Pakistan. Her government passed no legislation except a budget during its first 14 months in power. Much of its energy was squandered feuding with the opposition. Among the first acts of Bhutto's party after coming to power was a campaign to bribe and threaten legislators in Punjab. The goal: to overthrow Bhutto's nemesis, Mian Nawaz Sharif, Punjab's chief minister, a wealthy industrialist and a close associate of Zia's. Worse yet, her Cabinet stank with corruption scandals, including allegations against her husband Asif Ali Zardari and her father-in-law Hakim Ali Zardari, who was chairman of the parliamentary public-accounts committee. With so much fractiousness and scandal, Bhutto's first government lasted only until August 1990, dismissed by the country's president for "horse-trading for personal gain." Soon after, in November 1990, Nawaz Sharif, campaigning on an anti-corruption platform, became Prime Minister.

Bhutto returned to power in 1993, after Sharif was felled by his own corruption scandal. "This is my victory. It is a clear and decisive victory," she declared after a bitter name-calling campaign between herself and Sharif. But despite her claims, she did not have a working majority in parliament and had to wobble through her next few years in office as head of a fractious coalition, beholden to contentious blocs of power. At the same time, Pakistan owed huge amounts to the International Monetary Fund as part of servicing its enormous $28.6 billion in foreign debts. Bhutto had raised taxes, which raised the level of discontent in the country. But even so, her government did not collect enough revenue. In an effort to appease the IMF, Bhutto gave up the finance portfolio she had held since retaking the government. "The debt servicing is breaking our backs — debt that I didn't incur," she told TIME. "But as Prime Minister, I have to pay it back." Rumors soon spread that her government would be dismissed. "Rubbish," she said. But that is exactly what happened. Soon, Nawaz Sharif was Prime Minister again.

What's this about corruption charges?

From the BBC's obituary for Mrs. Bhutto, her husband, Asif Zardari, was accused of stealing millions from the state. Many speculated that the downfall of her government was the alleged greed of her husband. Even though none of the 18 charges against him could be proved over the 10 years spent in court, he nonetheless spent 8 years in prison.

Mrs. Bhutto herself was charged with 5 corruption cases, none of which she was ever convicted, and finally amnestied in October 2007. She was convicted, however, of failing to appear before the Supreme Court in 1999, but this conviction was later overturned.

Soon after the conviction, audiotapes of conversations between the judge and some top aides of then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif were discovered that showed that the judge had been under pressure to convict.


Ms Bhutto left Pakistan in 1999 to live abroad, but questions about her and her husband's wealth continued to dog her.

She appealed against a conviction in the Swiss courts for money-laundering.

During her years outside Pakistan, Ms Bhutto lived with her three children in Dubai, where she was joined by her husband after he was freed in 2004.

What's up with all the deaths in her family?

As mentioned above, her father was executed in 1979. But her two brothers, Murtaza and Shahnawaz, were also assasinated. BBC reports:

Her brother, Murtaza - who was once expected to play the role of party leader - fled to the then-communist Afghanistan after his father's fall.

From there, and various Middle Eastern capitals, he mounted a campaign against Pakistan's military government with a militant group called al-Zulfikar.

He won elections from exile in 1993 and became a provincial legislator, returning home soon afterwards, only to be shot dead under mysterious circumstances in 1996.

Benazir's other brother, Shahnawaz - also politically active but in less violent ways than Murtaza - was found dead in his French Riviera apartment in 1985.

Rest In Peace

As some of you may have already heard, Benazir Bhutto, the former Pakistani Prime Minister who returned to her country to help the push for a true democracy has been assasinated.

I didn't know very much about Pakistan before I started working for Dr. Ahmed, but as I became better acquainted with the crises, I admired Benazir Bhutto. Her story is absolutely amazing, and she is my new hero. The world could not only more women like her, but more men as well.

I'll write more as I throw myself head first into the news.