A tribute to Benazir Bhutto

The beacon of hope and light for Pakistan is extinguished. The country marred by communal riots and terrorism since their independence had a flickering hope when their Former President Benazir Bhutto arrived in Pakistan in October of 2007 after 8 years of self-imposed exile. All the hope came to an end abruptly miring the nation into a shroud of darkness and uncertainty with her assassination.

Benazir was the first women president of an Islamic nation. She was a very special and a rare breed in Pakistan – well educated, extremely handsome, exuding dynamism, and bravado both in action and speech. Her charisma magnetized not only the Pakistani youth, but world leaders as well. They respected and celebrated her as the ray of hope and pillar of strength for Pakistan. She was seen as a friend and not a foe by the Western world. Her education at Oxford and Harvard, her liberal outlook was certain to change the fundamentalist landscape of Pakistan. The nation gave her a thunderous welcome in Karachi this year after seeing their leader emerge from exile – Florence Nightingale was back again.

Anarchy, dictatorship and terrorism were not new to her. Though her personal life was marked with grief, chaos, separation, she was determined to light the lives of her countrymen and bring an end to suffering in Pakistan. In her youth she witnessed her father overthrown by the Military leader Zia Hul Haq and later hanged to death. Her family, the source of strength and support was continuously attacked. Mysterious death of her two brothers and imprisonment of her husband shook her confidence, but only made her resolve to fight stronger. The single mother was left alone nurturing her 3 kids in London. Was it determination, was it courage, or was it resolve, what kept her marching forward? In one of her interviews she mentioned drawing strength and inspiration from Mrs. Gandhi and Joan of Arc. There had been multiple attempts on her life in the recent past but she was confident no one can take her life away unless almighty decided. She knew life came with no guarantee. She held on to her faith without fundamentalism and was determined to serve the country and improve the quality of life at the grass roots.

Her life experiences made her outlook mature and transformed her to be the mother of Pakistan. In her recent interview she outpoured her love for the people of Pakistan and attributed her return to serve and care of her children risking her life again. There was no anguish or fear, but only care and love. In the NY Times Op-ed column last month she wrote, “It is dangerous to stand up to a military dictatorship, but more dangerous not to.”

The absence of democracy, pronouncement of emergency, ex-presidents in exile, dissolution and incarceration of judiciary, and gagging press punctuates Pakistan’s climate today. Terrorism, chaos, vandalism, and uncertainty are the way of life in Pakistan. Suicide bombers struck a few meters away from her convey on the night of her return to Karachi. In her recent email interview to Wolf Blitzer (CNN) she had mentioned about her security lapses and clearly pointed fingers at the existing anarchy for law and order failure in Pakistan. She also held the autocrat Musharaf responsible in case of her assassination. May be she new her end was coming? Her life came to an end on the same soil where her father was put to death.

The world mourns the death of a charismatic women leader in the West Asian History. A nation crippled in the hands of tyranny and terrorism was looking forward to the general elections to reinstate democracy and rebuild the crumbling nation, but today their hope is once again extinguished. For Pakistanis Life back to normal - chaos, darkness, bloodshed and more brutality.