Category: Pakistan

The Life and Death of Benazir Bhutto

Post author By Joe Campbell
Post date December 27, 2007

Benazir Bhutto

[digg-reddit-me]As every news outlet is reporting, and as I am sure everyone already knows, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was killed this morning at Rawalpindi in Pakistan. She was shot twice at close range – once in the neck and once in the chest – by one of the two suicide bombers sent to kill her who had gotten through the security forces. President Musharraf is being blamed – directly or indirectly- for the assassination by many of Bhutto’s supporters. He was at her side in the hospital when she died – but is being blamed for providing inadequate security. The two had also been clashing since Musharraf made the deal with Bhutto to allow her to return to Pakistan.

Pay your respects.

Bhutto wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post shortly before returning to Pakistan which reads like the last note of a woman who knows she is going to die:

Extremism looms as a threat, but it will be contained as it has been in the past if the moderate middle can be mobilized to stand up to fanaticism. I return to lead that battle.

I have led an unusual life. I have buried a father killed at age 50 and two brothers killed in the prime of their lives. I raised my children as a single mother when my husband was arrested and held for eight years without a conviction – a hostage to my political career. I made my choice when the mantle of political leadership was thrust upon my shoulders after my father’s murder. I did not shrink from responsibility then, and I will not shrink from it now.

Shortly before she went back to Pakistan, she said that she believed she would be assassinated if she went back. In her autobiography, Daughter of the East, Bhutto said:

“I know that I am a symbol of what the so-called Jihadists, Taliban and al-Qaeda, most fear. I am a female political leader fighting to bring modernity, communication, education and technology to Pakistan.”

But despite the fact that she knew these extremists were after her, she said that she did not fear the threats of Baitallah Masood or other extremists, but rather the fringe elements of the Pakistani military.

It is an understatement to say that today is not a good day for Pakistan or for world stability.

Edit:

“I am not afraid,” Bhutto told TIME last month, “I am ready to die for my country.”

The Associated Press provides the best short summary of Bhutto’s life that I have read with the introduction:

The suicide attack that killed Benazir Bhutto cut short an epic life, one bathed in blood and awash with controversy.

Foreign Policy Pakistan Politics The War on Terrorism

Staving off disaster in Pakistan

Post author By Joe Campbell
Post date November 18, 2007

Buried within the Washington Post piece by Michael Abramowitz explaining how Musharraf’s close ties to Bush pose problems in the administration’s response to the current situation is this prescription for how to stave off disaster when Musharraf inevitably falls:

Wendy J. Chamberlin, who served as ambassador to Pakistan during the critical months after Sept. 11, 2001, said the administration may have been justified in standing by Musharraf – but not after his recent seizure of emergency powers. “We have to make clear that our relationship is with the people of Pakistan and not with one man, and that he is not indispensable,” said Chamberlin, president of the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based policy group.

The Pakistan situation is revealing the high costs of pursuing the kind of personal diplomacy that Bush has reveled in without building relationships across the board and between allied societies. Bush based his relationship with Great Britain on Tony Blair and with Russia on Vladmir Putin and with Pakistan on Musharraf. The British relationship remains strong despite some tensions at the top because of the many levels of our countries relations. The same cannot be said of either relations with Russia or Pakistan. Our influence on Pakistan does not quite end with Musharraf – we do have a prominent relationship with former Prime Minister Bhutto and Musharraf’s main moderate opponent (who was removed from office in 1996 on corruption charges). But aside from connections with these two leaders, our influence on Pakistan is extremely weak. This is incredible considering Pakistan’s importance in the region and in the Bush administration’s supposed generational “War on Terror”.

Our flawed Pakistan policy is yet another example of the Bush administration’s prioritizing of transient tactical advantage over longer-term strategic planning.

Foreign Policy Pakistan

“I cannot allow this country to commit suicide.”

Post author By Joe Campbell
Post date November 3, 2007

Musharraf imposed emergency rule on Pakistan today. Obviously, this is disturbing news – either an indication that the situation in Pakistan is so bad that these steps must be taken; or more disturbingly, that Musharraf is willing to do anything to maintain power. I’m not sure what to make of this yet.

Foreign Policy Pakistan The War on Terrorism

Terrorist Attack on Bhutto

Post author By Joe Campbell
Post date October 18, 2007

According to the BBC, an apparent terrorist attack killed Bhutto supporters of returning Pakistani ex-PM Benazir Bhutto while she was touring the country as part of her campaign for her party, the PPP, to win the parliamentary elections and to regain the position she lost due to corruption charges. The news now is sketchy, but the attack was apparently close to her convey but it is believed she is safe. Bhutto just returned to the country today.

The BBC reports that body parts were strewn across her truck as it sped away. The Telegraph reports that the bombs appear to have been detonated by suicide bombers just feet away from Ms. Bhutto’s truck, shattering the glass. The attack took place despite what was reported to be a huge security presence.

The BBC reports at least 30 dead. Wikipedia in a poorly written update to her page reports 80 dead. The Associated Press includes eyewitness reports of over a hundred wounded. The Telegraph reports at least 50 dead with the death toll expected to rise.

Pakistani security services had requested Bhutto to travel to Karachi by helicopter because of security concerns.

Bhutto had previously stated that she believed she would be killed if she returned to Pakistan. Numerous islamist groups had made death threats.

“I am not scared. I am thinking of my mission,” she had told reporters on the plane on her way into Pakistan. “This is a movement for democracy because we are under threat from extremists and militants.”

Background

As an educated woman accustomed to power who seeks to modernize Pakistan, Bhutto is reviled by the Islamists. At the same time, she is one of the most popular figures in Pakistan, even after her popularity has taken a huge hit after she accepted a deal with newly re-elected and unpopular President Musharraf. Bhutto was removed from office due to corruption and embezzlement charges. A Swiss investigation into the charges (the money was allegedly transferred to a Swiss bank account) is due in the next few weeks.

Bhutto’s main base of support comes from loyalty to her father and her modernizing position. Hundreds of thousands gathered in Karachi and around the country today to welcome her back from exile and show support.

Wikipedia has a solid but brief bio.

Foreign Policy Obama Pakistan Politics The War on Terrorism

Pakistani Power Politics

Post author By Joe Campbell
Post date October 7, 2007

For those of you paying attention, President Pervez Musharraf, who has been ruling Benazir Bhutto Pakistan for the past eight years, won the presidential election in a landslide yesterday despite being weakened by all sides by domestic insurgencies, international opprobrium, and several constitutional and other crises. He won because of a last-minute deal he struck with the exiled leader.

The alliance is one that seems destined to fall apart, as Bhutto and Musharaff detest one another and represent two very different Pakistans. Bhutto will be entering the country in the next few days, with all charges against her dropped. She has already publicly declared that her life will be in danger by returning–whether from the Islamic militants who despise her or the current president, she did not say.

But let me spin this back to how this affects the race for president of the free world. As most people know, a few months ago, Senator Barack Obama made some comments about Pakistan in a foreign policy speech:

Let me make this clear. There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again. It was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al-Qaida leadership meeting in 2005. If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won’t act, we will. [my highlighting]

Bhutto, speaking at a public session before the Council on Foreign Relations responded:

Well, I wouldn’t like the United States to violate Pakistan’s sovereignty with unauthorized military operations. But the issue that I would like to stress is that Barack Obama also said, if Pakistan won’t act. And that’s the critical issue, that the government has to act. And the government has to act to protect Pakistan’s own serenity and integrity, its own respect, and to understand that if it creates a vacuum, then others aren’t going to just twiddle their thumbs while militants freely move across the border. [my highlighting]

Now let me highlight the significance of that: the former Prime Minister of Pakistan and current power broker in that country seems to believe that Senator Obama’s position is defensible–for America to violate her own country’s sovereignty. Senator Clinton on the other hand, does not engage in hypotheticals because that would reveal her thinking, her calculations and blasted Obama for his “irresponsible” remarks.

My question is: why didn’t Obama engage with Clinton–or anyone–more heavily on this issue, which ended up being talked up as a gaffe rather than a considered position?