Yet, it would have been interesting to see how she was going to fight former Islamist protégés. Now that she has gone, my biggest hope at the first moment was that her death could probably galvanize the half-hearted secularists of Pakistan onto a single platform and wage a united confrontation against the Jihadists. It should be realized that the greatest Jihadist danger the world faces today lies in nuclear-weaponized Pakistan, not Afghanistan or Iraq. The stability of Afghanistan is also intimately related to the situation in Pakistan, and the outcome in Afghanistan will ultimately influence the outcome in Iraq.
The way the Talibanized elements are spreading their hold block by block in Pakistan already extending their tentacles to all major cities ― it only about time before Pakistan falls at the hands of Jihadists. Pakistan can avoid becoming another Afghanistan only if all the highly divisive secular and semi-secular secular and half-secular forces join hands and stand up against the Islamists. Benazir Bhutto’s death was a real opportunity for them to come onto a single platform.
Instead, the Pakistani society has become even more divisive in the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. Today no prominent leader in Pakistan is more secular than Musharraf despite his tainted past. Neither does anyone else grasp the depth of crisis and the need to firmly deal with it, as does he. There was a strong likelihood that following the election, the parties of Benazir and President Musharraf would join together to form an anti-Jihadist platform. However Pakistanis have almost unequivocally pointed fingers at President Musharraf and his ally America and to Israel and India for Bhutto’s assassination. This has further shaken Musharraf’s already tenuous position.
Muslims are adamant that they will not point fingers at the Islamists, the guardians of the “religion of peace,” who can do nothing wrong. This wrong finger-pointing taints the secular fronts leaving the real culprits, namely the Islamists, clean and emboldened, accelerating their cruise to power.
Ominously for Pakistan, the Islamist politicians have already emerged as the power brokers. Bhutto’s death has only made them stronger. She has been a blessing to the Islamists in her death as she was in life during her time in power.
Article comments
1 - Dave Nalle
There's a difference between Jihadism and Islamic nationalism. Bhutto was more of a promoter of nationalism in Kashmir than Jihad, though she may have couched it in terms of holy war. The desire to unite Pakistan, Kashmir and even Bangladesh into one Muslim nation of considerable size and power, able to stand up to India is a pretty strong seduction. The fact that Bhutto embraced that nationalistic movement is by no means the same as supporting worldwide Jihad.
Dave
2 - Alamgir Hussain
Dave,
What exactly is "Islamic nationalism?" How is it different from Jihad?
Muhammad founded the cult of Jihad for capturing the lands of the infidels and establish the supremacy of Islam that would eventually expand over the would world. Allah promises in the Quran to make Muslims the owner of the world and instigates them to fight until religion becomes Allah's [Islam] alone [2:193].
In the subcontinent, Jihad re-started in early 20th century leading to founding of Pakistan and Bangladesh. Next step in Jihad was to take away Kashmir. Then wait for another region to be dominated by Muslims... This has become the new strategy of the Jihadists in the changed world scenerio.
3 - temporal
Benazir (Pinky) Bhutto was a lot of things but not a jihadist as alamgir hussain would like us to believe in this post:
These rabble-rousing statements speak volume of Benazir Bhutto’s eager support for the Kashmiri separatists, clearly inspired by her Jihadi zeal.
*****
this is what i wrote recently on Benazir that describes her more accurately
Benazir’s Last Will Shows Her True Colors
In her death, she spoke like the feudal she was at heart, treating her party like her jaagir (personal fiefdom.) She wrote the leadership of PPP should remain within the Bhutto clan.
While there are more eligible candidates in the Bhutto clan, she did not mean them, but her own son Bilawal Zardari, 19, who promptly and publicly consented to change his name to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
How can any party fight for democracy, and free and fair alphabet-soup of demands and display not one iota of conscience at this blatant travesty of democratic norms?
Today, greed won - injustice won - nepotism won- once again - and you, me and Pakistan lost.