Invitation to Carnage

摘要

For a "made to order" event for terrorists (and motivated others) there could have been no better occasion to run riot than Ms Benazir's homecoming after nearly a decade in self-exile. Once Oct 18 was announced as "BB" Day, wheels would have started turning in many dark comers of how to mar her "victory parade" in the worst possible way, and if possible to eliminate her. For her supporters (and her) only one thing mattered, the size of the crowd greeting her and to drive home the perception it would create among friend and foe alike. For ideological terrorists Ms Benazir is a magnet, a patented target of opportunity, for those with vengeance on their minds she is a target of virulent animosity and hatred. Targeting Ms Benazir magnified the threat of terrorism in Pakistan, conversely could this have been an attempt to build a backlash of sympathy for her, within and without Pakistan?