Bhutto’s own party men, more specifically Zardari and Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the latter being designated as the PPP’s candidate for premiership, are not known to have the resolve to clearly enunciate their position on extremism. There is not a man in the fold of the party, save perhaps Aitzaz Ahsan, who would come out clean on what needs to be done to combat religious terrorism. Ahsan, however, remains under house arrest for his involvement in the lawyers’ movement for the restoration of the judges sent packing by Musharraf on November 3.

More important, since Ahsan’s stance on the judiciary went beyond what Bhutto was willing to commit herself to, that is, an independent judiciary short of a reinstatement of the ousted judges, he has remained somewhat estranged from the mainstream of the PPP opinion. Having withdrawn his election nomination papers under pressure from the legal fraternity, and against the party decision to contest the polls, his would continue to be a lone and perhaps insignificant voice within the party.

The extremist threat posed to the country is real, and evading it is as dangerous as inviting more madness in the name of religion, especially at election time. Whether or not Bhutto was killed by Al-Qaeda or its sympathisers, it is for the investigating agencies to establish. The fact that religious insurgents are continuing to wreak havoc in parts of the Frontier province and holding the people there hostage to their designs does not need to be unmasked by a Sherlock Holmes.

... contd.