Benazir Bhutto - SZABIST

The Pakistan People's Party led in opinion polls, followed by Sharif's PML-N even before Bhutto's
assassination. Now the PPP is likely to benefit from a strong sympathy vote. The appointment of
Bhutto's 19-year old son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, as co-chairmen
of the party will help keep the party unified. It will also help ride the sympathy wave.
The government would appear ungracious and would lose votes if it goes too far in attacking the
widower and the son who have just suffered a major personal loss. Pakistanis are an emotional people,
and the national sentiment is now against Musharraf. Without major concessions to the opposition,
Musharraf's legitimacy problems will continue to grow and a flawed election would only exacerbate
his lack of credibility.
In her death, as in her life, Benazir Bhutto has drawn attention to the need for building a moderate
Muslim democracy in Pakistan that cares for its people and allows them to elect its leaders. The war
against terrorism, she repeatedly argued, cannot be won without mobilizing the people of Pakistan
against Islamist extremists, and bringing Pakistan's security services under civilian control.
Husain Haqqani, a professor at Boston University, is Co-Chair of the Hudson Institute's Project on
Islam and Democracy. He is the author of the Carnegie Endowment book "Pakistan Between Mosque
and Military" and served as an adviser to Ms Bhutto. His wife, Farahnaz Ispahani, is a PPP
candidate for parliamentary elections
CNN
January 8, 2008
When I return to Pakistan
Epilogue
Benazir Bhutto
I am returning to Pakistan on Oct. 18 to bring change to my country. Pakistan's future viability,
stability and security lie in empowering its people and building political institutions. My goal is to
prove that the fundamental battle for the hearts and minds of a generation can be accomplished only
under democracy.
The central issue facing Pakistan is moderation vs. extremism. The resolution of this issue will affect
the world, particularly South and Central Asia and all Muslim nations. Extremism can flourish only in
an environment where basic governmental social responsibility for the welfare of the people is
neglected. Political dictatorship and social hopelessness create the desperation that fuels religious
extremism.
Throughout Pakistan's 60-year history, weaving between dictatorship and democracy, from free
elections to rigged elections to no elections, religious fundamentalists have never been a significant
part of our political consciousness. We are inherently a centrist, moderate nation. Historically, the
religious parties have not received more than 11 percent of the vote in national elections. The largest
political party is mine, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP). Pakistan's political landscape has been
molded primarily by the moderate PPP, which has demonstrated strong and continuous support from
the rural masses and the urban elite.