Remembering Benazir

Benazir Bhutto was the queen of hearts of millions of people in Pakistan and abroad, and her legacy remains fresh and relevant even 10 years after her death. The occasion of the anniversary of her martyrdom recalls the words of the queen of hearts in Alice in Wonderland that "one need run very fast in order to remain in the same place." Till she breathed her last, Benazir continued to dominate the country's political scene in an unrivalled manner, providing teeming millions a legitimate hope in the future. Reaching out to or mingling with her supporters even in the face of grave security risks was her profound weakness, and she ultimately paid a price for her lack of prudence. She seemed to have either ignored or forgotten at Liaquat Bagh on December 27, 2007 - the venue of the assassination of the first prime minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan - the massacre at her homecoming rally in Karachi two months ago, falling prey to a deadly attack when she raised her head from the sunroof of her vehicle to respond to the slogans of party supporters.
Accompanying her father and mentor Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to Simla after the breakup of Pakistan, she was introduced to Indira Gandhi. Indira, according to her biographer, looked deeply into the eyes of "Pinky" for a while in a very thoughtful manner as she had found in her young Pakistani guest a great leader of global stature in the making. How ironic it is that the end of both great women leaders of South Asia is characterised by nothing but violent deaths. It is also another ironic fact that the assassinations of both the leaders led to mob violence in their respective countries. The scale of violence in India, however, was much higher or greater as compared to Pakistan. Asif Ali Zardari, the husband of Benazir Bhutto, recalled the words of Rajiv Gandhi, the son of Indira Gandhi, that "when a big tree falls, the earth shakes," in his own response to the violence that ensued in Sindh in particular following the murder of his wife.
Benazir, twice elected prime minister of Pakistan, knew well that she simply could not afford to reduce her pace, let alone become complacent, in an intricate path of passages where the state and its allies constitute a perpetual challenge to her political survival, to successfully find her way to reach the exit. Little did she know, however, that some non-state actors deriving strength from the global terrorist mafia have been baying for her blood ever since she put her weight behind the state action in relation to the Lal Masjid operation. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan apologists often ignore the fact that the reaction to its chief Baitullah Mehsud, who was later killed in a US drone strike, was not spontaneous; he clarified his position by distancing himself and his organisation from her assassination only after trucks and other means of transportation belonging to the people of Mehsud tribes were set on fire in great numbers in Sindh for several days.
There are no two opinions about the fact that it was her farsightedness and political wisdom through which this country of 200 million people has been able to reap the first harvest of completion of the constitutionally mandated five-year tenure of a civilian elected government and transfer of power to another civilian elected government in the history of the country. The country is going to improve its record by witnessing completion of the five-year tenure of another elected government and the subsequent transfer of power next year.
That those behind Benazir Bhutto's assassination are yet to be brought to justice, despite a full-fledged PPP government-mandated United Nations inquiry and other investigations into the matter of great national import, is a fact that is a sardonic comment on our state of governance and our approach to establishment of a socio-political democratic order based on rule of law.