Benazir Bhutto
In his write-up, “The Legacy of Benazir” (DS, March 4), Mr. Moinuddin Chisti, after commenting on Benazir and her Pakistan, finally asks a few questions which are: “What if this journey had gone on? Could she have succeeded in ending militancy and terrorism, violence and suicide bombers? Could she stand by firmly to the ideals of a true people's Raj, ending poverty and illiteracy, and raising per capita income of the average Pakistani? Most of all, could she ever take steps for establishing welfare politics and welfare economics? Could she fine tune the armed forces and engage them solely in the defence of Pakistan? Could she fight Islamic extremism and yet make good a commitment to Islamic ideals, values and principles?” Then Mr. Chisti answers: All this (these), sadly, we shall never know. This conclusion, I am sorry to say, is very difficult for me to accept when the writer could take so much trouble to mention many things about Benazir and the Pakistani politics. Benazir's assassination and the premature end of her political life should not, certainly, blind us. Daughter of a politically corrupt politician and herself a totally corrupt person, both politically and economically, Benazir Bhutto, had in her all embodiments of a highly corrupt figure. This Oxford educated lady was cruel; she did not mind killing her own brother to keep her strong grip on power. She professed social justice but was dishonest and took bribe in collusion with her husband, an equally corrupt and megalomaniac usurper in politics. One need not be an Aristotle or Rousseau to predict what she could do if her life was not shortened by an assassin's bomb. If she were alive, she would have won the election no doubt because there were no other alternatives for Pakistan but to choose her. And that is what exactly happened without her too. The Pakistanis voted for the PPP or the PML-N to reject Musharraf's political hegemony in collusion with the USA and the West. Terrorism, violence, suicide bombing are the results of bad Pakistani politics since 1947. Benazir was not a saint herself. Expecting any good from an evil is wishful thinking!
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