Don't know about you, but I do think the papers have gone a bit overboard with coverage of Mrs Bhutto's assassination, taliking about the 'cursed' dynasty and thus making the obvious comparisons to the Gandhi's and even speaking in nice terms of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, even though that man was a mass murderer in Bangladesh. Only Kanwal Sibal, former foreign secretary, writing in the Mail Today (you'll have to go to page 6 of today's e-paper, there is no way to directly hyperlink to the story) says what I thought yesterday. Even though you can argue that a lot of the militancy is a direct result of General Zia ul-Haq's policies and while I am no student of global geo-politics, I do know that several thousands of Indian civilians and security personnel have died of a direct result of the militancy fanned by Benazir. I do not know why we are celebrating such a woman's death. I would also like to point toward Jemima Khan's fantastic piece in The Telegraph in October.
Yes, it is sad that she was killed and I would like to pass on my condolences to her family. Nobody should die in such an awful, brutal and violent manner, but what is that saying about 'You reap what you sow'? Anyway, it appears that Al-Qaida (or is it Al-Qaeda?) killed her. We should be worried here about the future of Pakistan, as should the rest of the world. One of the more popular military 'secret plans' being bounded about in Delhi is the joint Indo-US-Israeli plan to knock out Pakistan's nuclear warheads, but I'm more worried about nutty Islamic terrorists with bombs strapped to their bodies.
There is also another another story which should be highlighted. Evidently Delhi's MLA's who are the laziest of the lot don't like newspapers printing that fact which is available on their own website. Did you know that last year Delhi's budget was passed in two minutes? Good on TOI, the MLA's elected in Delhi are horrible and if this wasn't the national capital and because many authorities are beyond their control (such as the DMRC) they have not managed to screw it up. But they still should work instead of lining their pockets.
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The Al-Qaeda angle is a joke (appeared on an obscure Italian website and got picked up by the Western media) and no long-time Pakistan observer/analyst has taken that claim seriously.
This seems to have ISI written all over it, and most have pointed fingers at Musharraf and the military and/or both.
Well it really has to be both given that the current ISI chief is Jarnel saab's rishtedaar and hand-picked by him.
BB was a crook, but I think she really couldn't do much to stop Hamid Gul when he was at the peak of his power. Besides, she struck a deal with the Indian government over the Khalistanis - it wasn't all bad.
The most interesting bit of news I've read on the entire Bhutto affair so far, published on October 31, 2007.
http://www.dictatorshipwatch.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2166
This is what the people on the street are chanting in Larkana and Karachi, as the 2nd political leader from Sindh is sent back in a box in a C-130:-
"Pakistan ko toRayNge,
Punjab ko nahin choRayNge".
+++
I dont see or hear this in the Indian media.
Methinks if Indian media had been "private" in 1970/71, they would have opposed the formation of Bangladesh, such seems to be their fascination with Pakistani supremacy ethos!!
GBO, I wonder if anyone in the Indian press wrote about this, but a Guardian report noted that there was not a single Pakistani flag in Larkana at the burial site.
They were all PPP flags. In fact, BB's body was draped with the PPP flag (besides the traditional Sindhi ajroka).
The Indian media has hardly a clue about the complexity of Pakistani politics, the regional tussles and the real power brokers. Just check how many times the Gujrat Chaudhrys or Bugti are mentioned in the Indian press.
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