The Bhutto Assassination has already begun to have severe impacts on the world. While people are crying and mourning, a very close friend, disheartened and tied up with family problems says that his city is dead, the rest of the country is on fire.
Individuals all over the world, particularly the states are the aftershocks of the massive quake that is shaking the country. Texas, a state with a major population being Desi’s have been reporting on the unrest and tension in cities such as Sugarland (Read the Houston Chronicle’s post with Barkat Charania Here).
Imagine this: with so much tension, one wrong move or one wrong word on the part of any prominent leader or organization may spark riots. There are supporters of each political party in the United States as there as in Pakistan, and there may well be fights emerging between them- this across the seas, tens of thousands of miles from where the tragedy occured. If this happens in every major country, not only will there be stress in Pakistan, but in other countries leading to stress on Pakistan. This may call for the United States to topple the military and the current care taker government for its interests in order to re-stabilize the scenario in both the local and international communities.
Earlier the same day, a few members of Nawaz Sharif’s party were shot and killed by an opposition party. We set light to our own busses and cars. Pakistani brothers and sisters, we must realize that this does nothing but cause more anger and we are the ones who with our own hands add to the loss.
The future prospects of Pakistan? The General Elections? This is how it might carry on: No other emergency or martial law is imposed. A new political candidate is selected for PPP and will have an equal chance at winning the elections as did Bhutto, despite having no prominence. The popularity of the party has already been boosted even further by what has ensued and now, PPP will not think in terms of a candidate winning the elections, rather, the political party, an ideology, a movement winning the election. The saviors?
Nawaz Sharif has an increased chance of winning the election now, however. With a major competing candidate out of the way, the PPP being dispersed, it remains to be seen if they can pull back together. In the meanwhile, Nawaz has an open gateway to win a major amount of votes.
The Musharraf regime has and will constantly come under critical fire from the country and foreign allies, and although Musharraf will be blamed in particular, each member of the party is at risk of revengeful crimes.
For the record, it is not clear as to whether this is Al Qaeda or another faction that was responsible for this event. Benazir was a secular leader and so had attracted hatred from extremists.
A word about the way the assassination was committed. There was enough security for guns to have not been allowed in the procession. However, the security may not have been too tight in terms of being able to detect explosives (this is after all, a suicide bombing). Since Benazir’s vehicle was surrounded by individuals, the explosion may have been intended to disperse the crowd, leaving Benazir an open target for any sharp shooters. Benazir’s political style may have also been studied by the assassins, since the vehicle glass was bullet proof. However, usually, Bhutto pulls down the window to wave at the crowd and so, it is plausible that the assassins may have played on Bhutto’s predictable method. The assassination was also committed at the same location as the late Liaquat Ali was killed. This cannot be a coincidence.
