Benazir Bhutto - SZABIST

More documents

Recommendations

Info

I went to her house dozens of times and attended most of her gatherings in the UAE and even traveled with her on the same plane on her historic return to Pakistan, and found her a determined and committed leader -always passionate about Pakistan and its people. She came out of exile the strongest and boldest female leader in the history not only of Pakistan but the world. She told me in Dubai that her fight was not for power but to alleviate poverty and make her father's slogan of 'Bread, clothing and shelter' for all a reality. I personally believe that her assassination spells the death of democracy in Pakistan. They are killing women! Gulf News December 29, 2007 Mohammed Almezel Why would anybody kill a woman? Obviously for what she represents. And certainly if what she represents poses a threat to those who don't believe in women leaders. According to Pakistani officials, Al Qaida militants, and probably their Taliban allies, were behind the cowardly assassination of Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. It is logical, isn't it? They said they would kill her if she returned to Pakistan. And she did in October, ending an eight-year self-exile. She was back to fight an overdue battle "to restore democracy" in her country, polarised by subsequent coups and military take-overs. She died fighting that battle. She was leaving an election rally in Rawalpindi, standing in the open sunroof of a car, when a gunman shot her in the neck and chest. Seconds later, the attacker blew himself up, killing at least 20 people. She saw that coming, telling everybody as she boarded the plane from Dubai to Pakistan on October 18 she was "going back to [her] death." She knew her killers. She pointed them out. We know them very well. Who else would kill themselves to kill a "woman", and 20 other innocent people, but them? Bhutto was a rare Muslim woman who won worldwide respect and admiration from other Muslim women when on December 1, 1988, aged 35, she won parliamentary elections to become the first woman prime minister of a Muslim nation. This gave all women in this troubled part of the world power. Other women, inspired by her, went on to lead other successful attempts. And for that she became a natural enemy of the extremists, who were disappointed by her repeated statements condemning their demagogic, and indeed masculine, hegemony over her native society. Al Qaida and its affiliates must be stopped. The so-called War on Terror doesn't seem to be working. As the George Bush-led war continues, the extremists seem to get stronger. Everyday, literally, they prove they can hit anywhere anytime. They can only be stopped when we challenge them on their home turf by spreading freedom and multilateralism to defeat their backward ideology and isolationism. And for that Muslims are in dire need of more Benazirs. Every Muslim woman should be Benazir, think and fight like Benazir.
Gulf News December 29, 2007 An iconic loss Shamshad Ahmad Benazir Bhutto's assassination is a tragedy of an unimaginable magnitude. She was targeted and could not escape the sniper's bullet, which has deprived the country of a leading player in the decisive process of its return to peace and democracy. She was a world renowned leader and leaves behind a void that will not be readily filled. No amount of condemnation will make up for the enormity of the loss. It is an indescribable grief and irreparable bereavement for the Bhutto family, which deserves utmost sympathy and commiseration. But this is an iconic loss for the entire nation and a serious blow to the country's future. Everyone mourns this tragic loss. The people are aghast, the world at large is stunned. The UN Security Council has also met to express its condemnation of the "suicide attack" killing Ms Bhutto. No one knows who killed her and why? No one knows what lies ahead for this tortured nation, which stands completely torn apart and emotionally dismembered. Pakistan as envisioned by its founders now agonises in its total helplessness and hopelessness. The Quaid did not live long to personally steer Pakistan to be what he thought and aspired will be "one of the greatest nations of the world". Had the Quaid lived longer, he would have only been embarrassed to see how miserably we and our successive leaders have failed to live up to his vision of Pakistan and to protect and preserve our national unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity. Alas, on our part, we are not even ashamed of what we have done to his Pakistan. Will there be ever an end to crises and tragedies in our country? Did Pakistan come into being to perennially remain afflicted with a culture of blood and bullet? Are we doomed forever to military or military-controlled rule? Why don't we learn lessons from our traumatic past? Are we destined forever to meet unanticipated times? Don't the people of Pakistan have any urge to change their destiny? These are heart-rending questions, which require an agonizing soul-searching by the nation itself to be able to find their answers. Unfortunately, Pakistan's difficulties have been aggravated by decades of military rule, constitutional usurpation, institutional paralysis, incessant corruption and general aversion to the rule of law. During the last two decades, Pakistan has become the hotbed of religious extremism and obscurantism. Proxy wars have been fought on our soil. Pakistan today is a country where Muslims are killing Muslims. Even mosques, churches and religious congregations have not been spared as venues of cold-blooded communal and sectarian killings. Pakistan's sole identity today is only as the "ground zero" of the "war on terror" and the sole "breeding ground" of "obscurantism and militancy" with a full-fledged war being waged on its own soil. There has been a huge collateral damage in this ongoing military operation. The biggest casualty, however, is Pakistan's own dignity and credibility.
Page 1 and 2:
Reflections on Benazir Bhutto Edito
Page 3 and 4:
Dedicated to the martyrs of Pakista
Page 5 and 6:
To Benazir, in the heavens 57 Ghaza
Page 7 and 8:
Foreword We cannot let my mother's
Page 9 and 10:
and a presidential sword of Damocle
Page 11 and 12:
BritainUSA December 31, 2007 Benazi
Page 13 and 14:
That is why they pit parties agains
Page 15 and 16:
had to go. But they had not mastere
Page 17 and 18:
She also continued to campaign for
Page 19 and 20:
tell that we were all wrong and she
Page 21 and 22:
the United States must review its p
Page 23 and 24:
My life with Benazir Christina Lamb
Page 25 and 26:
Was she in love? Announcing her eng
Page 27 and 28:
without compromise. To the constern
Page 29 and 30: Pakistani military intelligence cou
Page 31 and 32: the American investigative reporter
Page 33 and 34: Arkansas friend calls Bhutto a tire
Page 35 and 36: She would have been in a good posit
Page 37 and 38: Within days of that attack she was
Page 39 and 40: But probably she miscalculated eith
Page 41 and 42: the peak of the Zia dictatorship, a
Page 43 and 44: My BB, my boss Shafqat Mahmood Prim
Page 45 and 46: she had any hand in her brother's d
Page 47 and 48: A tribute to Benazir Bhutto Nafisa
Page 49 and 50: called Benazir, which will continue
Page 51 and 52: How Benazir let her hair down Daphn
Page 53 and 54: I also remember her discussing Dian
Page 55 and 56: Later that day as we finalised our
Page 57 and 58: Pakistan loses a fighter for democr
Page 59 and 60: Who killed Bhutto? Interestingly, t
Page 61 and 62: Death of an icon Imtiaz Alam She ha
Page 63 and 64: The writer is editor current affair
Page 65 and 66: assassinate her. She then added, "H
Page 67 and 68: familiar?). Still, Benazir’s stor
Page 69 and 70: Bhutto's death will almost certainl
Page 71 and 72: It took her over 19 hours to travel
Page 73 and 74: We are all Bhuttos now Fasih Ahmed
Page 75 and 76: As she got up to leave, she stopped
Page 77 and 78: She represented the hope, the desir
Page 79: The ‘seniors’ assured her, inst
Page 83 and 84: Both the judiciary and media, two p
Page 85 and 86: changed circumstances, even a thoug
Page 87 and 88: The Nation December 29, 2007 The tr
Page 89 and 90: Hope now dead and buried; Faces dep
Page 91 and 92: and pathetic how, with every stop s
Page 93 and 94: Pakistan’s ruling establishment h
Page 95 and 96: She died at the hands of terror, no
Page 97 and 98: in Pakistan, it is also a loss to t
Page 99 and 100: Like all such tragedies, the assass
Page 101 and 102: two terms in power, she has come fu
Page 103 and 104: Cry my beloved land. Tanvir Ahmad K
Page 105 and 106: Today's subcontinent has all but fo
Page 107 and 108: was the first glimpse some of us ha
Page 109 and 110: Her death was an event of fearful m
Page 111 and 112: Bhutto's assassination could be a s
Page 113 and 114: Extremism looms as a threat, but it
show all

Benazir Bhutto - SZABIST

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?