Benazir Bhutto’s assassination was horrifying but not surprising. There had been one major attempt on her life in Karachi, she miraculously escaped. But the death squads were out and it was perhaps a matter of time before they caught up with her.

While Benazir was accused of many things, she was no coward. She understood that the politicians’ job description includes contact with the people, and she was willing to risk her life to again be a politician in Pakistan.

When she and her husband came to Brookings just before she departed for Pakistan she stated that she needed to restore her contacts with the Pakistani people. She also displayed a far more realistic understanding of Pakistan’s problems and the importance of reform.

She was a gradualist — she believed in working with the military (even though her own father had been hanged by them). Her murder removes not only a glamourous and popular personality, it is a blow to the idea of a liberal, moderate Pakistan.

Will it be a death blow? Can Pakistan recover as a state and as a society? It is hard to be optimistic. This attack took place in the heartland of the army which itself is under attack from radical Islamists; the generals have demonstrated little will to push back.

There are so many suspects that we may never know who was responsible. What we do know is that there is a large “alumni association” of former intelligence operatives, tolerated by the army and the intelligence services, or perhaps simply beyond their reach.

... contd.