Death Comes to the Daughter of the East, Benazir

Benazir Bhutto’s life was tragic all through in the Greek sense. She was the eldest child of her father. Zulfikarali Bhutto had to go through a humiliating death row wait with world leaders pleading for commuting the sentence and the inevitable merciless execution of the flamboyant sybarite former president. Benazir had two brothers. One of them died in Paris in mysterious situation after having spousal difficulties. Another was shot dead by Pakistani police right at the front of his house. But her end at the hands of the suicide assassin was part of destiny.

The word assassin comes from Arabic hashshashin which is plural for hashshash meaning one who is addicted to hashish, or an Ismaeli sectarian who used to intoxicate himself with hashish or hemp when preparing to dispatch some king or public man. Sectarian strife of yesterday is secularized into today’s political schism. The sectarian could be Baitulla Mehsood or any foot soldier.

Only two months ago there was another suicide attack on her. On October 19, 136 people lost their lives but Bhutto escaped although she was the target. That did not sway her from her determination to fight the polls scheduled for January 9. In November she expressed her determination:"I am not afraid. I am ready to die for my country." With grim resolve she got busy with her campaign and had no time to wait for death. Therefore, in the words of the American poet Emily Dickinson, death called upon her and waited for her. Together they rode, through mammoth rallies, like the one in Rawalpindi, to eternity.

She continued her crusade against terror but died a victim of it. She was better educated than many of the leaders of Pakistan and had been mellowed by the liberalism of the west.

Her death extinguishes the popular aspiration for democracy, at least for the present. It also puts the January 9, 2008 election in a limbo. What her rivals did not achieve she had achieved: distinction of being a popular leader in all the four provinces as was her meteoric father.

Nawaz Sharif, though her rival was allied to her in the war on terror, rushed to the hospital where Benazir Bhutto was taken after attack and remarked: "I myself feel threatened... Are things in control now? Had things been in control, would this have happened? "We both were struggling for the same cause, and we had signed the charter of democracy. I assure you that I will fight your war from now. It is tragic not only for [her party] but also for my party."

Let alone Pakistan’s traditional enemy, some even in the US believe that the military government supports terrorism. The lead article in TIME ends with a wry irony. “There will be many tense days ahead for the Musharraf government as it deals with this political crisis. And that's good news for terrorism.” A woebegone People’s Party member told BBC that Bhutto had feared that there were people in Punjab who were hell bent on killing her. She had named some from there in the military establishment whom she believed to have been behind the earlier attempt on her life. She was not targeted in any other of the three provinces. As if according to the design she would have her tryst with destiny in Punjab only.

Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the assassination. Why Al Qaeda? It is strange that President Pervez Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto have a common enemy in that terrorist outfit. Bhutto and Musharraf’s enemy is Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda’s enemy is the United States. Does it follow the syllogism that your enemy’s enemy is your friend? Or else why should Osama be still at large, that too in the tribal unwieldy belt of Pakistan? And if he has a surrogate in Baitulla Mehsood brother of Abdulla Mehsood in Wazirastan, then the fact is twice removed from the original. (Pakistani army along with US marines had killed Abdulla.)