What utter madness. And what a disgrace for Pakistan. The country will not be the same anymore without Benazir Bhutto. With her death, gone are the hopes of millions of her supporters spread across the length and breath of the country; those whose eyes shone in Karachi on October 18 when she returned.

Two of Sindh’s most brilliant and promising leaders have now been killed in Punjab. This does not augur well for Sindh-Punjab relations, or inter-provincial relations for that matter, which at the best of times have been far from smooth. This, in a country managed by its generals even if a facade of people’s representation is allowed to come to the fore.

Rawalpindi, the headquarters of the Pakistan Army, has so far claimed the lives of three of the country’s prime ministers. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged here in 1977; Liaquat Ali Khan, like Benazir, was assassinated in 1951 after being shot at close range at the same venue: the old Company Bagh, later rechristened as Liaquat Bagh.

Ever since her return to Pakistan, Bhutto had complained of not being provided adequate security. Her party spokesperson, Shery Rehman, time and again accused the government of soft-peddling on the issue and making light of the threat Bhutto believed she faced from Islamist militants or even intelligence agencies. It is no secret that the latter very much have a life of their own, one that does not always reflect stated government policy.

In the case of Bhutto’s security, the state reluctantly provided jamming devices to the police escorting her motor trips out of her fortressed home in Karachi. According to Rehman, the jamming device never worked, and the October 18 attempt on Bhutto’s life in Karachi was cited as a potent example.

... contd.