Democracy and political assassinations in Pakistan

Pakistani former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated in a suicide attack.

It is sad that the Bhutto family should be plagued with political assassinations. It is like the Kennedy family in The USA and the Ghandi family in India. It seems that in many cases political bravery involves bravery to face death. Political assassination is not the democratic way to make a point.

Pakistan has the flaw of being a society where there are different forces that can’t cohabit. There is the military that is unlikely to fully relinquish power to elected institutions. It will always continue to seek a crucial role in the country’s politics. There are also religious views that oppose democratic rule as it views it as western style that has nothing to do with Islam.

As long as politicians are constantly under assassination threats, Pakistan will remain a country in political turmoil that emerges from time to time. The military will continue to have direct interferences in what is taking place. Pervez Musharraf, although now a civilian, has a military past behind him. He will continue to work closely with the military to stay in power. Events have shown that political parties have only the power to rally supporters to denounce measures by the president. Elected institutions are just a sham as they have little power to sway the country’s general politics.

Al Qaeda denying it killed Benazir Bhutto can be just a tactic on its part. It has succeeded in eliminating her. Now it should work to destabilize the government of Pt Musharraf by showing it to be behind her killing as a way to create massive anger and unrest in Pakistan to its advantages.

Benazir, during her life, was a controversial figure in Pakistan politics. Now from her grave, she’ll continue to create controversies about who was her real killer and the real motives behind her death.