Benazir Bhutto Assasinated
I woke up this morning and was upset to learn about Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assasination in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. No, I'm not a Benazir Bhutto fan per say but I have been following her progress since she returned to Pakistan after her self-imposed exile of eight years. Although she survived a previous attack on October 18th 2007, today's attack was up and personal, where she was shot in the neck and the chest before a suicide bomb blast which killed an additional 20 or so people.Benazir Bhutto was the Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and then again from 1993-1996. Whatever her past history and whether she was corrupted or not, Bhutto is to be admired for being a female leader in a turbulent country like Pakistan.
India, US, Afghanistan, Russia and other countries across the globe have condemned the assassination. President Bush made a brief statement expressing his thoughts and condemning the assassination of Bhutto.
When I read the views shared by the various political bloggers, this blog really shocked me: andrewiandodge.com
What does this blogger mean? Why is he not surprised? ANY assassination is a surprise, and just because we know that Bhutto faced the highest risk of that in recent times, why would we not be surprised that an assassination attempt was successful?
There is a lot of discussion about how Bhutto's assassination will impact US elections and how it will impact India-Pakistan relations. The US has been a leader in trying to reconcile Bhutto and President Musharraf to bring democracy to Pakistan. Bhutto was considered a 'moderate' and since she really understood the west (especially the USA), it was believed that she would work with the US to create stability in Pakistan and its surrounding region.
Bhutto's assassination also impacts India-Pakistan relations because Bhutto was again seen as a moderate who had expressed thoughts about improving relations between the two countries.
Bhutto's assassination IS a shock and IS suprising to me. Her death makes me upset that the world has lost another female leader for no reason other than hatred against democracy.
Nipa Shah is the President of Jenesys Group, LLC, an online marketing company located in Michigan. She also hosts a Podcast for Asian Indians called Round Table India and recently launched the Michigan India Chamber of Commerce (www.miicc.com), a networking organization for Asian Indians and a blog portal where you can find blogs on all topics of interest (www.thebloogle.com).
Labels: benazir_bhutto
posted by Nipa Shah @ 10:48 AM
2 Comments:
I can understand Nipa's bewilderment at the andre--- blogger not being surprised at Benazir Bhutto's assassination. I also felt it was going to happen sooner or later. Bhutto had herself questioned the lack of security around her, at the Pakistani authorities' not allowing foreign involvement into the investigation of the previous attack in October and her refusal to stay in enclosed armored cars left her vulnerable. If she would have come in power the terrorist and extremist organizations would have been under a constant onslaught. It was one of the high points on her agenda.
AW, thank you for your comments.
I'm not bewildered by that bloggers comments, I'm frankly disappointed that we as human beings cannot feel surprised that such a tragic event could happen to someone, regardless of who it is.
That to me shows how terrorism and the various conflicts around the world has changed our fundamental mindset.
I do agree with your comments that Bhutto had questioned the lack of security around her and knew the dangers that she faced. But she is also the one who had stated on October 17th, 2007, that a true Muslim would never attack a woman.
She was obviously proved wrong a day later when she was the victim of the 1st attempt of assassination on her on October 18th.
I guess she and all those hoping to see a democratic Pakistan were wrong in believing that she had a chance to come back into power and bring a little bit of stability in that region.
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