Bloody Pakistan

The assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto poses a grave danger to a crucial American ally in the war against terror. If nothing else, the killing of Bhutto, a courageous if deeply flawed figure who personified her country’s fragile hold on democracy, ought to shake the Bush administration out of its tolerance for the authoritarian government of President Pervez Musharraf.

Musharraf blamed the extremists that his government has been fighting for Bhutto’s murder, and it is indeed possible that al- Qaida or other Islamic radicals were to blame. Yet there is widespread suspicion that Musharraf’s own security forces either played a role in the assassination or failed to adequately protect Bhutto.

Bhutto was possibly the best chance for democracy to return to Pakistan, which is why the United States was urging Musharraf to form a coalition with her Pakistan People’s Party. The coming January elections seemed to be the opportunity for a power-sharing agreement between a Musharraf presidency and a Bhutto premiership to emerge. Now, it appears, the best the United States can do is urge Musharraf and Pakistan’s military to exercise restraint, even as they try to hold the country together.

The violent chaos that has engulfed Pakistan since Bhutto’s murder should serve as a reality check for the United States and other world powers. Pakistan, after all, is a nuclear power. What happens if radical fundamentalists, for whom martyrdom is little feared, gain control of such weapons? And it bears note that the tensions which roil Pakistan are not hugely different from those of other strategically important nations in Asia and the Middle East.

(c) 2007 Cincinnati Post. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.