‘If assassination is the price I pay ...’

‘If assassination is the price I must pay ...’

24 October 2007

An eyewitness report of the bombing of Benazir Bhutto’s bus

Bhutto had not been in Pakistan since well before 9/11 and in her years away the country had changed more than she realised. The fact that there are so many candidates for who was behind the assassination attempt reflects the parlous state of Pakistan today. Aside from obvious threats like al-Qa’eda and the Taleban, the military which has run Pakistan for 33 of its 60 years may have had no real intention of ceding power to Bhutto. Not only have the armed forces taken over more and more of the public sector, but the Pakistan army has also become an enormously lucrative corporation, running everything from banks and insurance companies to cement plants and cornflake factories.

Even if the military was genuine in wanting to bring back some limited democracy, it may not be able to. For years its intelligence services encouraged extremist groups as proxies to fight in Afghanistan and Kashmir and sectarian groups to create law-and-order disturbances to justify the need for military rule. This may have come back to haunt it, as it may well be that these groups are now out of control.

‘We have two faultlines in this country now,’ said Bhutto, talking to me a couple of days after the bombs, a black ribbon tied round her arm and still visibly shaken by what had happened. ‘It’s no longer just dictatorship versus democracy but also moderation vs extremism. If we don’t wake up to this, the extremists will take over.’

Although she pointed the finger at the establishment, claiming ‘there are some powerful figures behind the assassination attempt on me,’ she was careful not to blame General Musharraf. Instead she said, ‘For me it all starts with the dictatorship of General Zia in the 1980s. This was the defining period when he radicalised institutions that were neutral and promoted people with a particular Islamic point of view and used the madrassas for brainwashing our young.’

‘The only way we can turn this round and save Pakistan is to save democracy, and that’s why I came back,’ she added. ‘I don’t want to face suicide bombers and be assassinated, but if it’s the price I must pay ...’