Benazir Bhutto.. stood for greed, corruption and lust for power. Democracy ??? What did that woman know about it ? Was She a democratically elected official of the party she represented ? Is her husband or son democratically elected leaders of that party ??? NO ! The Bhutto's DO NOT have a god given right to lead the party .. or much more importantly to lead the Nation of Pakistan. The Americans needed a poodle in power in Pakistan ... so they sent Bhutto, unfortunately .. she got herself killed.
Pakistan needs ... firstly to in no uncertain terms tell the US to stop meddling in its affairs, secondly it needs totally overhaul the election process, 1 Wo/Man 1 vote ... no block voting, no allowing for the 500 hundred or so landowners to force their political will on the masses, no party lobbying or representation at polling stations etc ... Thirdly it needs to ensure .. past leaders who have either served 2 terms in office or who have
any kind of past criminal record or outstanding criminal unanswered cases to be automatically barred from entering any part of the election process. Fourthly .. Pakistan needs ist "SO CALLED" friends to understand that all of this is not going to happen over night
What Pakistan DOESN'T Need .. are croonies and hangers on, spreading half truths and rumours.
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‘Triumph Turned into Tragedy’
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I hung on every report coming from Pakistan and scoured Dawn, Pakistan's English-language newspaper, on the Web. I was heartened a week later when Benazir traveled safely to her ancestral home in Larkana where, in 1988, we had watched the election returns on a flickering black-and-white television set, recorded by a young boy in a copy book. Earlier in the day, we had visited the family graveyard where her father and two brothers, all of whom were murdered, are buried. The burial ground then was a simple one, surrounded by walls and tended by an old family retainer. Since then, I saw on television, a huge mausoleum had been built over it. "I saw the mausoleum for the first time and was so happy to see it rise from the dusty haze across the horizon to pay tribute to a great man," she e-mailed me.
She was in Lahore when Musharraf declared a state of emergency last November and ordered a lockdown on all politicians. I was almost relieved. She and I had spent time there in a friend's house during Ramadan in 1987. Police had surrounded the walls at that time, but not to protect her. Their guns were pointing in. Benazir had passed some of the time doing a makeover of me, painting my nails, fingers and toes. Henna leaves were ordered up from the village of our host, made into a paste with coffee and tied around my head. (When I was finally allowed to wash it out, twigs and pebbles fell on the shower floor.) She was pleased at the result, having explained my previous no-nonsense appearance to her friends as "She's from women's lib."
"Am under house arrest once again," she e-mailed me last month. "Glad to know the press is good. Mush has hired an additional lobbying firm for dollars 650 thou to malign me. But we r fighting on. When I see Lahore I see your face amongst the crowd of people that I shared experiences with."
Our last exchange took place on the religious holiday of Eid al-Fitr following the suicide bombing in the mosque of the former interior minister, Aftab Sherpao. He had been a colleague of Benazir's, and I had stayed with him and his very nice family in Peshawar during my 1988 visit. "I don't like people I know being almost blown up," I e-mailed her. "Are you sure you want to be Prime Minister?" Her reply did not answer my question. "The attack on Sherpao, on Eid and in a Prayer place was ghastly," she wrote on Dec. 22. "Merry Xmas and happy new year. Take care and love, Benazir."
Five days later, she was assassinated. I never want to see another rose petal.
Francke is a former editor at NEWSWEEK
© 2008
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