Honour Bhutto’s sacrifice

EJAZ HAIDER

Profile

Born - June 21, 1953 in Karachi

Education- Radcliff College, Harvard University, BA Graduate study at Oxford in Foreign Services, 1976-77.

Political Career - Political activism with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan.
1977-84; repeatedly imprisoned and kept under house arrest by the Government.
Remained in political exile in London, England from 1984-86.
Returned to Pakistan in April 1986.
Became the Co-Chairperson of the PPP.
Benazir Bhutto was the first woman female premier in the Muslim world.

Achievements - Bruno Kreisky Award of the Merit in human rights, 1988.
Medal by the University of California at Los Angeles, 1995.
Awarded by the 2000 Millennium Medal of Honor by American Biographical Institute, Inc. In Nov. 1998.
Awarded “World Tolerance Award 2005” by Woman World Awards in Leipzig in November 29, 2005.
Nominated Chair of “Muslim Woman for Human Rights and Democracy” Oslo, Norway, May 6-7, 2007.

Ms Benazir Bhutto is dead, assassinated. A grave tragedy, this could likely have even graver consequences. She was walking back to her vehicle after addressing a rally at Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh on December 27 when, according to reports, a man approached her, started shooting and then blew himself up. The bullet that entered her neck proved fatal.

That Bhutto was attacked is not surprising; it wasn’t the first time. What is surprising is that someone could so easily get close to her and had enough time to start shooting before activating his suicide belt. Or were there two people, one shooting and the other blowing himself up ?

Who could have done it ? The answer to this obvious question, unfortunately, is not so obvious. If motive is the benchmark, culprits can range from the rightwing elements - Al Qaeda and its affiliate groups had repeatedly threatened to take her out - to her political rivals to elements within the establishment and intelligence agencies.

Anyone, singly or in tandem, could be behind this murderous act. There is a strong undertow in Pakistan still of extremism - rogue elements linked to extremist groups and right-of-centre political parties.

Bhutto had, after the gruesome Karachi bombings, pointed the finger at what she called the “Zia remnants”; later, however, she had decided not to press with that line.

But the manner in which Pakistan’s politics is configured, the PPP rank and file will entertain no other thought except that the dark deed was committed by Bhutto’s rivals - and rivals range from the army (for whom Bhutto was a bete noire) to intelligence agencies to right-of-centre political parties to the extremist groups on the loose.

PPP cadres are already in a foul mood and in the coming days the possibility of increasing violence in the party’s strongholds cannot be discounted.

The consequences of Bhutto’s assassination have to be seen on the basis of the vertical fault-line that has historically run through Pakistan’s politics and where the army has overtly and covertly tried to do everything possible to keep the PPP on the margins since its very inception.

Even now, while President Pervez Musharraf began to make overtures to the PPP, partly because he realised that the next phase of politics would require a much stronger PPP presence and partly because the Americans pushed him in that direction, Musharraf’s allies were extremely unhappy.

It doesn’t bear repeating that Musharraf presides over a system where many functionaries of the government are not particularly enamoured either of his policy of alliance with the US or his idea of cultural liberalism and moderation.

An alliance between Musharraf and Bhutto, even one based on self-interest, was not in the interest of such players. That her rally in Karachi was targeted within hours of her landing on Pakistan’s soil shows that these elements meant business. It also proved that they considered her a grave threat and would strike again.

Turmoil suits extremist groups; the absence of Bhutto suits some political groups as well as some elements within the establishment. But unlike the extremist groups, those who are in this game to seek power must realise that some basic rules of the game are important all round - for themselves as well as the rivals.

Without rŠgle du jeu, the country can never acquire the stability which makes politics the only profitable game in town.

Where does Pakistan go from here?

That’s the question now and its answer will depend on Musharraf. He will have to make a decision and a smart one. And the only sensible decision is to not postpone the elections. Whoever did this wants two things: create unrest through violence; and get the elections postponed sine die.

The postponement of elections will only increase the possibility of violence by signalling to an already bereaved PPP rank and file that the dastardly act of killing Bhutto was aimed at eliminating a political threat and keeping the country away from democracy.

In fact, the only way Musharraf can show his sincerity and even get himself, the army and perhaps his political allies absolved of the accusations that will now fly thick and fast, such being the nature of Byzantine politics, is to go ahead with the elections.

The talk about imposing another emergency will be akin to playing with fire. Investigations into this tragedy need sincerity, not a blanket imposition of drastic measures curtailing basic rights, not least because emergency in and of itself can have no impact on the efficacy of investigations intended to unearth the culprits who did this.

Musharraf’s appearance on state television condemning Bhutto’s death, declaring three days of mourning and asking people to stay calm was a good gesture; that he did not mention any possibility of emergency is also a good signal.

However, there has been rioting in various cities and if violence spreads it could give the Government a reason to take extraordinary measures. That is what must be avoided. While it is important to maintain law and order, that can be done without getting into the morass of emergency.

This is a death whose shadow will linger over Pakistani politics for many years to come. There’s also a lesson in here for those who have ruled Pakistan for so long and defied the logic of establishing a succession principle.

If Pakistan were a stable state, this death would still be mourned but no one would consider even a tragedy as big as this to be the undoing of the state itself.

Bhutto was fighting for just such stability; the only way to honour her and her sacrifice is for the country to return to democracy and to the creation of a legal-normative framework. And the first step to that is free and fair elections.

The writer is Op-Ed Editor of Daily Times, Pakistan and Consulting Editor of The Friday Times. He can be reached at [email protected]