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Death Foreshadowed
A Pakistani Requiem
By WAJAHAT ALI
I. THE ASSASINATION
An assassin's bullets and suicide bomb ended the life of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto; tragically, she followed in the footsteps of her father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's Prime Minister [1973--1977], who was brutally hung by political rival and subsequent military dictator General Zia al Haq nearly thirty years ago. The tragic legacy of this family elucidates the political instability and schizophrenic personality of modern-day Pakistan: a complex, volatile and multifaceted nation whose diverse features have increasingly and frequently become accentuated by violence.
Bhutto and nearly 20 civilian supporters were killed while stumping for the upcoming January Pakistan parliamentary elections in the army stronghold of Rawalpindi. As of Friday morning, Bhutto's death catalyzed widespread riots, vandalism, and civilian unrest directly resulting in 15 reported deaths. President Musharraf, who recently lifted November's State of Emergency that temporarily suspended the Constitution and implemented a "mini Martial law," officially declared 3 days of "mourning" and vowed to continue his resolve against extremists and terrorists.
Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif, the once exiled former Prime Minister of Pakistan and potential rival to Musharraf, promised, "We will avenge [Bhutto's] death," and has boycotted the upcoming elections. World leaders and dignitaries, specifically Republican and Democratic Presidential candidates, quickly issued press releases and television interviews admonishing the assassination, pledging their vow to root out "Islamic terrorism," and supporting Musharraf and Pakistan's "move towards democracy." [Presidential candidate Huckabee had to be reminded, embarrassingly, that Pakistan was no longer under martial law--an auspicious sign of our future leaders' knowledge and understanding of foreign policy and world affairs.]
II. "RAGE BOY"
The vast majority of Pakistani citizens, according to my friends and family who live there, lament the tragic actions of an extremist minority that continues to pollute and threaten the spirit, character, and personal safety of the nation. To the ears of "Westerners," whose only exposure to Pakistan by the U.S. media has been a simplistic, cartoon-like depiction of angry extremism ["Rage Boy"] and enlightened "moderation" of a military dictatorship [Musharaff], this sentiment rings false and hollow. Indeed, "Rage Boy" has become the ubiquitous image of not only Pakistani politics, but also 160 million Pakistani citizens; "Rage Boy" is a bearded, irrationally angry, frothing, anti-American extremist whose occupation consists of three full time jobs: burning American flags, studying at an Islamic fundamentalist madrassas, and engaging in Anti-American terrorist activities. Any proper student of history or anthropology with even a modicum of knowledge regarding Pakistan's diverse socio-cultural identity would scoff at that simplistic depiction. Sadly, nuances and complexity are not afforded media air-time amidst Pakistan's continuing and repeated, albeit isolated, acts of sensationalistic violence.
This dualistic and Manichean representation of Pakistan manifests itself with the description of the personality at the center of this recent, contagious conflagration: Bhutto. Mere hours after her assassination, Bhutto was both praised as a "shaheed"[a martyr], "a beacon for democracy," "a model of progress," "a loyal friend to democracy," and condemned as "a traitor," "a U.S. puppet," and everything in between. When extremism, political fervor, and selfish interests marry, the resulting progeny is usually instability, uncertainty and violence; common sense, rationality, and moderation are generally aborted.
Rest is here http://www.counterpunch.org/ali12282007.html
Death Foreshadowed
A Pakistani Requiem
By WAJAHAT ALI
I. THE ASSASINATION
An assassin's bullets and suicide bomb ended the life of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto; tragically, she followed in the footsteps of her father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's Prime Minister [1973--1977], who was brutally hung by political rival and subsequent military dictator General Zia al Haq nearly thirty years ago. The tragic legacy of this family elucidates the political instability and schizophrenic personality of modern-day Pakistan: a complex, volatile and multifaceted nation whose diverse features have increasingly and frequently become accentuated by violence.
Bhutto and nearly 20 civilian supporters were killed while stumping for the upcoming January Pakistan parliamentary elections in the army stronghold of Rawalpindi. As of Friday morning, Bhutto's death catalyzed widespread riots, vandalism, and civilian unrest directly resulting in 15 reported deaths. President Musharraf, who recently lifted November's State of Emergency that temporarily suspended the Constitution and implemented a "mini Martial law," officially declared 3 days of "mourning" and vowed to continue his resolve against extremists and terrorists.
Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif, the once exiled former Prime Minister of Pakistan and potential rival to Musharraf, promised, "We will avenge [Bhutto's] death," and has boycotted the upcoming elections. World leaders and dignitaries, specifically Republican and Democratic Presidential candidates, quickly issued press releases and television interviews admonishing the assassination, pledging their vow to root out "Islamic terrorism," and supporting Musharraf and Pakistan's "move towards democracy." [Presidential candidate Huckabee had to be reminded, embarrassingly, that Pakistan was no longer under martial law--an auspicious sign of our future leaders' knowledge and understanding of foreign policy and world affairs.]
II. "RAGE BOY"
The vast majority of Pakistani citizens, according to my friends and family who live there, lament the tragic actions of an extremist minority that continues to pollute and threaten the spirit, character, and personal safety of the nation. To the ears of "Westerners," whose only exposure to Pakistan by the U.S. media has been a simplistic, cartoon-like depiction of angry extremism ["Rage Boy"] and enlightened "moderation" of a military dictatorship [Musharaff], this sentiment rings false and hollow. Indeed, "Rage Boy" has become the ubiquitous image of not only Pakistani politics, but also 160 million Pakistani citizens; "Rage Boy" is a bearded, irrationally angry, frothing, anti-American extremist whose occupation consists of three full time jobs: burning American flags, studying at an Islamic fundamentalist madrassas, and engaging in Anti-American terrorist activities. Any proper student of history or anthropology with even a modicum of knowledge regarding Pakistan's diverse socio-cultural identity would scoff at that simplistic depiction. Sadly, nuances and complexity are not afforded media air-time amidst Pakistan's continuing and repeated, albeit isolated, acts of sensationalistic violence.
This dualistic and Manichean representation of Pakistan manifests itself with the description of the personality at the center of this recent, contagious conflagration: Bhutto. Mere hours after her assassination, Bhutto was both praised as a "shaheed"[a martyr], "a beacon for democracy," "a model of progress," "a loyal friend to democracy," and condemned as "a traitor," "a U.S. puppet," and everything in between. When extremism, political fervor, and selfish interests marry, the resulting progeny is usually instability, uncertainty and violence; common sense, rationality, and moderation are generally aborted.
Rest is here http://www.counterpunch.org/ali12282007.html
