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Asia Pacífico | Observatorio Parlamentario

Adieux Benazir: Chronicle of an assassination that surprised no one

04 febrero 2008

Benazir Bhutto, who was killed on 27 December, 2007, shares something in common with the Gandhi family in India. Both political dynasties have suffered violence. Benazir followed the political footsteps of her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who led the first civilian government in 30 years. In 1979, he was executed on charges of conspiracy. His two brothers also died violently.

Benazir Bhutto was educated at Harvard and Oxford, serving twice as prime minister of Pakistan, during 1988-1990 and then 1993-1996. On both occasions, she was unable to complete her term due to charges of corruption.

The volatile nature political career had its ups and downs with one common denominator: the beautiful, educated, young and glamorous Benazir was always a refreshing contrast to an overwhelming political system dominated by men. Determined, close to suffering from political obstinacy, Bhutto lived the entire spectrum of being the most prestigious woman in the world to being the symbol of patronage, corruption and bad government.

The Bhutto family had its “own” political party, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP); a true legacy that in recent times had intended to be a democratic and secular alternative. That is, an alternative to the military dictatorship of President Pervez Musharraf and Islamic extremism.

The death of Benazir Bhutto leaves a huge political vacuum in Pakistan’s turbulent and unstable political system. Violence and Islamic extremism will remain challenges for Musharraf's dictatorship. The increasingly powerful opposition accuses him of being an accomplice to political femicide. In fact, the two main opposition political parties, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League already announced their concerns about the validity and transparency of the upcoming elections in February. The US gamble on Musharraf after the assassination of Bhutto, is only temporary due to the crisis of legitimacy that weakens the regime’s authority on an almost daily basis.

Pakistan is in a political solution dead-end, at least in the short term. Violence seems to be part of its political culture and will continue to dominate the political aspects of distribution and succession of power or with the processing of conflicts. If a political system which includes mediation and expresses the fundamental interests of all social sectors is to emerge, it will need to show legitimacy and an equality of opportunities. It will also require one or several of the key players having no interest in destroying it. It seems that Islamic extremism and the dictator Musharraf feel that they have more to gain by the political system’s destruction than via participation in it.

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