Upon Benazir Bhutto's return to Pakistan last October, there was a [very] brief moment when i thought Pervez Musharraf, learning from Marcos' own failure to reconcile with Ninoy or conversely, F.W. de Klerk's success in reconciling with Nelson Mandela, would actually engineer a political reconciliation either as a way of co-opting and neutralizing her, or as a genuine act of statemanship. The sad reality is that dictators are seldom able to deny their nature.
Here's Bhutto's NY Times Op-Ed from last month where she writes about Musharraf's Martial Plan (via Firedoglake). I can only hope that her half-expected, but nevertheless still shocking murder does not set-off an even more fateful chain of events reminiscent of a previous assasination that took place in Europe almost a hundred years ago.
You can also read Rom's analysis as well as that of John Marzan.
Update 01-01-2008: Via Crookedtimber, an assessment by Jemima Khan, concluding that As Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto Did Little.
3 comments:
Benazir Bhutto is just another common corrupt politician. No more no less.
More distressing to watch is Benazir Bhutto's political party --the Pakistan People's Party -- which is peopled by insanity. The party, which, by the way, is supposed to be founded on the principle of the "dignity of the common man" , hands control of the organization to her 19-year-old son... to honor her. No different, I suppose, than what happens in Mindanao Muslim politics. Idiots!!!!
Hi lnkos, she may have been corrupt and that is not excusable, but to her credit, she has shown physical courage.
Hi Tonyfl, Pakistani-born pundit Tariq Ali has called it a 'grotesque feudal charade'. I wouldn't restrict the parallels to Mindanao Muslim politics though, since Philippine politics in the Christianized areas exhibit the same dynamics as well.
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