Culture and Conflict Review. Volume 2, Number 1, January 2008. The Assassination of Benazir Bhutto

摘要

Pakistan, for such a young nation, has an extremely complicated history. Its identity has largely been forged by opposition; opposition to Hindu-majority India, opposition to foreign intervention in Afghanistan, opposition to corrupt elected officials, and then opposition to the military strongmen who overthrow them. In the latest episode, the leader of the democratic opposition, Benazir Bhutto, has been assassinated by forces opposed to Western-style democracy. On the evening of December 27th, while leaving a rally earlier postponed due to security concerns, Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister and leading contender for the job again, was fired upon in Rawatpindi. A bomb blast, presumably of the suicide variety, followed shortly thereafter. This is a travesty for not only her family but for the nation of Pakistan and U.S. efforts in the area. She was the fourth in her family to die prematurely. The Pakistani government's assertion that al Qaeda was responsible has lessened the anger felt towards Mr. Musharraf. Many Pakistanis seem to hold the government responsible for the gaps in security that allowed the assassins so close, while the government seems to have since shifted the blame to Baitullah Mehsud, a Taliban commander from Southern Waziristan for plotting the attack, for which the government furnished a transcript of an alleged conversation between Mehsud and another plotter. Mehsud has since denied responsibility for the attack. The government went on to claim that Bhutto was not killed by bullets or the bomb, but when her head struck the bullet-proof sun roof cover of her limousine. Recently, the PPP has claimed that the cause of death was not an actual gunshot wound, but a laser beam. Her husband denied a state request for an autopsy. As all sorts of theories are thought through, we may never know the truth.