Dec 28, 2007

Bhutto's murder

Yesterday Benazir Bhutto was killed in Rawalpindi, it's a shocking news and one of those things you remember where you were at the time (I received the news from a friend through twitter while having a late lunch). The news sent shock waves through Pakistan, making an already dangerous political atmosphere even more charged. Bhutto became the youngest prime minister, and first female, not only in Pakistan but in the Muslim world. She also fled Pakistan twice on charges of corruption, mostly directed towards her husband; she always denied them, but the charges never went away.

The barbaric nature of her murder shows how deeply violent Pakistan
has become; the government blames Alqaeda and Taliban, that was expected!. But it couldn't have been the government; this was a huge blow to Parvez Musharraf who wanted the elections to go ahead peacefully, to gain some legitimacy, and Bhutto was the most suitable candidate to rebuild his image in the West. But now that she's gone, he's stuck with his arch-rival Nawaz Sharif.

No one knows how things will turn out in Pakistan after the elections now that the government has decided not to postpone them, but the political turmoil is set to continue as long as Musharraf is in control.

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