Personal Commentary: Good Night, Benazir

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Arsalan Iftikhar is contributing editor for Islamica magazine in Washington, D.C.

Like John F. Kennedy on that fateful November day in Dallas more than 40 years ago, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto had no idea that her latest outdoor rally in Rawalpindi would be her swan song. Like the societal shockwaves sent to the American public after the tragic loss of JFK, the nearly 200 million people of Pakistan will never be able to truly wipe the images of Bhutto's assassination from their collective memory anytime in the foreseeable future.

Even after an October 2007 near-fatal double suicide bombing during a homecoming rally in Karachi, Bhutto continued to defiantly attend open-air rallies with only a female bodyguard as her protection. Prominent Americans, including presidential candidate and Senate Foreign Relations Chair Sen. Joe Biden, personally implored Gen. Pervez Musharraf to provide the re-aspiring political leader with heavier security but it was a testimony to the democratic resilience of the Pakistani people that she continued to call for the ousting of Musharraf even without that guaranteed security.

Furthermore, in an October 2007 e-mail to an acquaintance read live on CNN, Bhutto said she would "hold Musharraf responsible" if she were killed for a failure to authorize adequate security.

Although she was corrupt during her own turbulent tenure as prime minister, in recent days, her ability to form a coalition with former political mortal enemy Nawaz Sharif (another ex-prime minister) showed how political adversaries could mobilize together for the democratic betterment of their nation.

When Pakistani lawyers and judges boldly took the streets recently in the dapper-suited version of the saffron monks of Burma, the world began to see the formation of a critical mass of a viable middle class in Pakistan who are simply tired of Musharraf's two-bit dictatorship and yearn for democracy in Pakistan for all people.

Even in the hours following Bhutto's assassination, reports from the ground show people taking to the streets of Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi chanting slogans such as "Get rid of the dog, Musharraf!" Whether it was al-Qaeda sympathizers or rogue governmental elements that were responsible for this dastardly and criminal act of terroristic assassination, the only silver lining to this very dark day in Pakistan is that it will hopefully galvanize grassroots and elite activists to ensure a smooth transaction to democracy during the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Expecting a tin-pot military dictator like Musharraf to live up to his democratic promises is like waiting for a Hershey's chocolate bar to belt out a Shakespearean sonnet. Therefore, the responsibility for Pakistan's future firmly rests on the shoulders of the judges, lawyers, doctors, academics and human-rights activists of that nation.

Amid the dark night and chaotic shambles of Pakistan, the prayers of the international community are with its people. Although no expert on Pakistan can honestly say that they were surprised by the assassination, we still shake our heads in disbelief that this absurd script arrived at the sad and tragic finale.

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