The consensus is that there was no reason to postpone the election. If the PPP, after losing its leader, was prepared to fight now, if Nawaz Sharif is ready for the election to be held as scheduled on January 9, then what reason could there be for a postponement? But it’s almost not about the election any more. It’s about Benazir Bhutto.

On the evening of my second day in Lahore, I went to see Asma Jehangir. I have known Pakistan’s feisty, fearless human rights activist since I first came here to do a story in the ‘80s and no matter how bad things were politically, Asma was always ready to carry on the fight for democracy and basic human rights. This time she said she was “devastated” by the death of Benazir Bhutto. Did she feel any sense of hope that democracy would return in a real sense? “Not in my lifetime,” she said, “maybe in the next generation.”