Benazir Bhutto - SZABIST

One thing she shared with her father was his genuine concern for the poor. Unlike those who practise
their politics in drawing rooms and military establishments, both Bhuttos spent much time with the
dispossessed and the vulnerable. Neither achieved as much for them as they would have liked, as they
were not given enough time by their many enemies.
Until recently, my brothers and I had three nurses to look after my mother who needs a certain amount
of help in her old age. Two of them are Christian, and when I asked them whom they would vote for,
both replied that they and their families always voted for the PPP.
While the rich hate the Bhuttos, the poor love them. This is the legacy Benazir Bhutto is leaving
behind. May she rest in peace after all these years of adversity.
DAWN
December 29, 2007
Hope and dream of the poor
Aqil Shah
IN the wake of Benazir Bhutto’s shocking assassination, there is understandably more fog than clarity
about the future of Pakistan. As her rightfully angry supporters take to the streets, Pakistan’s viability as a
state is even under deeper scrutiny than usual from within and outside.
It is obvious that her loss will be felt in our politics and society for years to come. But right now, hours
after ingesting non-stop televised doses of the horrific news of her demise, it still seems like a dreadful
nightmare. With nightmares, however, there is at least the benefit of eventually waking up. In this case,
there is just seemingly endless despair, helplessness and disbelief.
She cannot possibly be dead. If only she had stayed inside the car. If only this or that had happened, she
would still be alive. But slowly denial turns to outrage. The state could have done more to save her. She
was the democratically elected prime minister of Pakistan, twice. She had been asking for more robust
security, which was denied her time and again.
This is no time to point fingers, but her death is not something that the establishment should be allowed to
sweep under the carpet. It is a crime against the people of Pakistan, and they deserve to know at least for
once why a popular leader has been killed and by whom?
Her chilling email message to Mark Siegel, her friend and confidante in Washington, DC, written on Oct
26 points to the complicity of the highest office of the state. In that message which was to be disclosed in
the event of her death, she wrote: “I have been made to feel insecure by his (Musharraf’s) minions...There
is no way what is happening in terms of stopping me from taking private cars or using tinted windows or
giving jammers or four police mobiles to cover all sides could happen without him.”
Be that as it may, how does one respond to her loss? There is little consolation in believing that popular leaders
live in their death more than in their mortal life. It would not be unreasonable to say that by following in her
father’s footsteps, she has once again immortalised the Bhutto legacy and charisma. But her death feels like a
mortal blow in the gut, and not only because it is a cruel reminder of our own mortality.
The larger than life Benazir Bhutto, the public orator, the populist politician, the former premier, is no more
and there is nothing anyone of us can do about that. She was flesh and blood like all of us. But she was
much more.