Daily Times editorial Dec 28, 2009

Benazir Bhutto remembered

Two years on from Benazir Bhutto’s tragic assassination, the country still awaits closure on the case. No doubt, the transition from Musharraf’s dictatorship to the democratic dispensation created difficulties in investigating the murder, persuading the government to rely on a UN commission to look into the incident. But the mandate of this inquiry is unlikely to answer the crucial question of who was responsible, and therefore delay, if not thwart, the ends of justice. In our culture, speaking ill of the dead is frowned upon, but the unenviable task of objective analysis of a leader such as Benazir Bhutto’s political career cannot be avoided.
Inheriting the legacy of her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the PPP he founded, Benazir tacked to try and overcome what she perceived as the reasons for his hanging by General Ziaul Haq. Open and direct confrontation with the establishment was to be avoided while struggling for democratic space and civilian supremacy. The global powers that be, especially the US, were to be kept on board, or at the very least neutralised. With hindsight, it could be argued that these policies of ‘appeasement’ of the domestic and international centres of power did not yield the results expected or hoped for, and certainly did not save her two governments in the 1990s from being intrigued against and finally removed by the array of deeply entrenched forces of the establishment. Tiring of the time-honoured tactic of harassment of political opponents by dragging them through myriads of court cases and appearances, and fearing that her husband Asif Zardari’s extended incarceration could be used to pressurise or blackmail her into submission to the will of the establishment, Benazir chose self-imposed exile for eight long years. The experience matured her political perceptions, and she changed the rules of the game once again by two initiatives. One, she reconciled with her long-time arch rival Nawaz Sharif, himself in forced exile thanks to General Musharraf the coup maker, and the Charter of Democracy, a new Magna Carta of the democratic forces in Pakistan was the result. Two, recognising how well entrenched Musharraf was, she negotiated her return to active politics within Pakistan, the NRO being the price to be paid to make that possible. It is another matter that forces inimical to her personally and the return of the PPP to power conspired to eliminate her physically in what can only be termed a classic high profile political assassination.
Today, Pakistan stands poised on the cusp of a decision between the past and the future. Either the renewed efforts of the establishment to undo democracy, or at the very least tame the democratic forces to do its bidding, will succeed and the country returned to a false political construct in which the people’s voice, let alone aspirations, can find no place, or the democratic forces will prevail over the will of the establishment and offer a glimmer of hope to the country and the people that a brighter future beckons. Arguably, on the resolution of this struggle will depend not only the path for Pakistan in the second decade of the century, but even its ability to overcome the critical challenges that confront it: terrorism and the economic and social well-being of the people. Military dictatorships, authoritarian dispensations, false constructs controlled by the establishment have all been tried and found wanting, if not disastrous, in the country’s history. Perhaps the moment has arrived to turn over a new page if Pakistan is to survive, gain the respect and dignity its people deserve in the world, and restore the battered faith in the country that is increasingly conspicuous by its absence, particularly amongst the burgeoning youth of our troubled society. Nothing could pay homage to Benazir Bhutto’s legacy better than a pledge on this historic but laced-with-tragic-memories day than a pledge to continue on her path of struggle against dictatorship, for democracy and the welfare of our people.