Shocked at Benazir Bhutto’s assassination
I read about the killing of Benazir Bhutto 15 minutes ago (Thu 27 Dec, 10:30am New York Time, 9:30pm in India). I’m shocked and shuddering. My feet were cold and I was delaying wearing thick socks for a while. Not sure whether it was the temperature or the news - I actually shivered on reading about Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. Somehow, it doesn’t feel like a news story on somebody’s passing which they cover in detail in the media - from the Nepal royals to Pramod Mahajan to Teji Bachchan.
I was shocked, angry and sad..it was as if I had some personal hope for Pakistan from Benazir that I hadn’t realized. I don’t remember a moment so personally shocking since the killing of Rajiv Gandhi. When Rajiv Gandhi was killed - there was this feeling..how can they do this…how can they kill the most charismatic leader of India…weren’t they satisfied having witnessed the deaths of Indira and Sanjay Gandhi…how can you make a single family suffer so much….what will happen to India..that was May 1991..
And now…end of 2007…I am overcome with the same thoughts…how can they make a particular family suffer so much…Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the sons Murtaza Bhutto, Shahnawaz Bhutto and now..Benazir herself…with all her imperfections….Pakistan was witnessing a change…what will happen to Pakistan…what will happen to the world…is there any hope? You might disagree with her..but how can you kill her?
Suddenly the moments when I read her autobiography ‘Daughter of the East’ during my school days in Gangtok all flashed before my eyes…the way her mother taught her to count a no. of times to make sure her teeth are brushed and clean…the recent interviews on ibnlive.com that I watched where Karan Thapar interviewed her on Devil’s Advocate…all the news of her intent to return to Pakistan…her return..assassination bid…threats to her life…flashes of names..her husband Asif Ali Zardari…her mother Nusrat Bhutto…her niece…Fatima Bhutto…Murtaza’s daughter…who hates Benazir..I think she’d be sad and crying too…sad for the Bhutto family, despite her disagreements with Benazir…
As the news is slowly sinking in, I think it’s a sad day for Pakistan..for India..for the world…it brings to the fore an ongoing war - between the fundamentalists and uncivilized people (who do not know how to disagree without violence)..and the normal world as we know it ..or think it is…Perhaps the world is not what it seems…it seems like a very dangerous world…anybody who wants to do something gets killed… Is there hope? There must be…images of Mahatma Gandhi lying dead flash….there can only be hope in non-violence…when people learn to disagree through non-violent means…
