I am not a political analyst, and I'm not trying to be one. I'm a regular world citizen - a media/political victim of "terrorist fear" to whom the international page in the morning paper is just a 5 second scan. Political battles and ground breaking diplomatic summits mean nothing to me. Yet this one hit me hard. Almost below the belt. It left me confused. Befuddled. Benazir Bhutto assassinated. Pakistan in chaos. So, like any self respecting blogger, I googled "Bhutto". Don't try it. It's a mad, mad world out there right now. And in view of the December 28th events, some have gone beyond mad to downright scarily fanatic. Wikipedia, of course, wasted no time in converting the second paragraph of their article on her to the following:
" She was assassinated on 27 December 2007, in a combined shooting and suicide bomb attack during a political rally of the Pakistan Peoples Party in the Liaquat National Bagh in Rawalpindi.[3] Eyewitnesses to the assassination stated to various news agencies that Bhutto had stood up through the sunroof of the white Toyota Land Cruiser that ferried her to the rally to wave at supporters who were cheering her. It was then that a man on a motorcycle, carrying an AK-47 rifle, fired two shots, one into Bhutto's neck, and she collapsed, falling down into the vehicle. Bhutto was rushed to Rawalpindi General Hospital where she died at 6:16 p.m. local time (13:16 GMT). The gunshot to the neck was reported as the cause of death, according to the Pakistani Interior Ministry. She was buried in her hometown in Larkana, Sind, next to her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's grave. "
She "was". That's the second one in my lifetime. To my not yet born children, their mummy witnessed the 9/11 and the Bhutto assassination.
The news cast ripples across many newsrooms, many homes and changed the directions of many a political wind. Afgahanistan President Hamid Karzai said he was shocked. Hilary Clinton will use it to coerce voters to go for the "safe choice" - a former first lady whose husband's tenure was clean of any such "madness". For Rudy Giuliani, who just released a new 9/11-themed commercial in New Hampshire and Florida titled "Freedom," the assassination was only one step away from Manhattan. "Her death is a reminder that terrorism anywhere-whether in New York, London, Tel Aviv or Rawalpindi-is an enemy of freedom," he said in a statement. "We must redouble our efforts to win the terrorists' war on us." Even her neighbor in her exile home of London had something to say on his blog about the "smart, sophisticated woman" he met on morning walks in the park.
Political analysts rave about the beauty and strength of Ms. Bhutto and how she would have saved Pakistan from its now unavoidable obliteration. I don't believe that. A nation cannot be saved by one person. Bush, of course, is out to prove the opposite - that a nation can be destroyed by one person. I digress.
And then of course there's the Al Qaeda, who "dropped hints" in an obscure website that they knew about all this. Translation on national TV world over - "In a recent development in the Bhutto Assassination, infamous militant outfit Al-Qaeda has reportedly taken responsibility for the attack on Ms Bhutto that led to her death. ABC News(sorry thats a real channel)...XYZ News back with more on the story after these messages."
But what struck me the most was the opinion of the Pakistani expatriates. One pakistani chef who owns a "curry" shop in New York and whose children have been born and brought up there commented, "What becomes now of how people see us in USA? When 9/11 happened, they thought all bearded men were Osamas. Now they will assume all Pakistanis are assassins. What kind of country should we ask our children to be proud of? What national identity shall we ask them to stand up for?" That simple perception of this potboiler was so much more meaningful than anything any man in a black tie at a podium with a fancy embossed logo had bothered emoting.
Where, in all this, is the poor woman herself? She was not a war hero by any means. But she was a real woman. Who was born into political royalty. Groomed in the International Debating Halls of Radcliffe and Oxford. The throne of Prime Minister-ship was bequeathed to her twice, first at the tender age of 35 and then again after 6 years. Tenures that cost her 2 brothers. A woman who in a Times of India Sunday Review, talked nostalgically and with equal ease of her "campaigning days", the "double death blow" in her family, her "rock and roll concert at Cambridge", her "boyfriends in college days" and her "persona change" each time she set foot on native soil." She was one of those rare people who rather than being bogged down by family name, picked up the reins and stood for more than she needed to. Who returned to her country, desperate to use her degrees in International Diplomacy and State Studies in a country that needed it badly. But her always rouged cheeks, immaculate designer coats worn over silk traditional salwar-kameez and dupatta-covered glossy hair never betrayed the passion that she had for Pakistan. The lady had guts. And that perhaps is the reason we all feel her loss. Not as a political figure, but as a woman who bridges the gap between English speaking secular us and the third world. Us and a condemned dictatorial state. Us and a suspected Islamic terrorist harbor. She went to the people she wanted to help because she could. Not because she had to. Above all she spoke out - despite being in mortal danger, despite being a woman in an Islamic world - for something she believed in. Despite all our advantages, that is something most people, irrespective of last name, academic accolades or gender - find it hard to do in their life. She was the real deal.
Once the dust has settled and the half baked theories are over, there will remain the question of the "survived by". Benazir Bhutto (1953 - 2007) is survived by three children and a husband The children have mostly remained in anonymity till now while the husband has played second fiddle to his wife very successfully during her career without any publicly known marital damage. I cannot begin to imagine how her immediate family will ever develop a national identity when the very whisper of their surname will, for years to come, haunt their lives. Ostracized by their own people, they will find themselves marooned emotionally. Above all else, above the concerned current and contesting political leaders, above even the people of The Islamic Republic of Pakistan, my heart goes out to these four. I wish them strength. I wish them peace. To Benazir Bhutto. A mother. A wife. A daughter. A former prime minister. And a formidable woman.Labels: dealing with death, death, feminism, politics
