Benazir Bhutto - SZABIST

the United States must review its policy of trusting the military-dominated regime led by Pervez
Musharraf to secure, stabilize and democratize Pakistan.
The U.S. should use its influence, acquired with more than $10 billion in economic and military aid, to
persuade Pakistan's military to loosen its grip on power and negotiate with politicians with popular
support, most prominently Bhutto's successors in her Pakistan People's Party. Instead of calibrating
terrorism, as Mr. Musharraf appears to have done, Pakistan must work towards eliminating terrorism,
as Bhutto demanded.
The immediate consequence of the assassination will likely be postponement of the legislative
elections scheduled for Jan. 8. Bhutto's party led in opinion polls, followed by the opposition faction
of the conservative Pakistan Muslim League (PML), led by Nawaz Sharif. Immediately after Bhutto's
assassination, Mr. Sharif announced that he is now joining the boycott of the polls called by several
smaller political parties. If Mr. Musharraf goes ahead with elections, it is unlikely that it would have
much 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.
Unfortunately, at the moment Bhutto's homeland (and mine) remains a dictatorship controlled through
secret police machinations. Mr. Musharraf's regime has squandered its energies fighting civilian
democrats instead of confronting the menace of terrorism that has now claimed the life of one of the
nation's most popular political figures. His administration will have to answer many tough questions
in the next few days about its failure to provide adequate security to Bhutto, particularly after an
earlier assassination attempt against her on Oct. 18.
The suicide bombing on that day, marking her homecoming after eight years in exile, claimed the
lives of 160 people, mainly Bhutto supporters. But the government refused to accept Bhutto's requests
for an investigation assisted by the FBI or Scotland Yard, both of which have greater competence in
analyzing forensic evidence than Pakistan's notoriously corrupt and incompetent law enforcement.
The circumstances of the first assassination attempt remain mired in mystery and a complete
investigation has yet to take place. Television images soon after Bhutto's assassination showed fire
engines hosing down the crime scene, in what can only be considered a calculated washing away of
forensic evidence.
Bhutto had publicly expressed fears that pro-extremist elements within Pakistan's security services
were complicit in plans to eliminate her. She personally asked me to communicate her concerns to
U.S. officials, which I did. But instead of addressing those fears, Mr. Musharraf cynically rejected
Bhutto's request for international security consultants to be hired at her own expense. This cynicism
on the part of the Pakistani authorities is now causing most of Bhutto's supporters to blame the
Musharraf regime for her tragic death.
In her two terms as prime minister -- both cut short by military-backed dismissals on charges that were
subsequently never proven -- Bhutto outlined the vision of a modern and pluralistic Muslim state. Her
courage was legendary. She stepped into the shoes of her populist father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, without
much training or inclination for politics, after he was executed by an earlier military ruler, Gen. Zia ul-
Haq.