The brutal murder of Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan, is the latest in the political killing of fellow Muslims by Muslim extremists. Bhutto was greeted in Karachi with a massive bombing that took lives of more than 100 Muslims. On the eve of Eidul Azha earlier this month, extremists killed scores of worshippers at a mosque in Shapiro, Pakistan. It seems that fanatics are slaughtering people without any reservation.
In Pakistan, the Taliban, the al-Qaeda and other extremist groups are carrying out systematic mass murders in their brutal attempt to Talibanise Pakistan. They considered Benazir Bhutto, being a liberated and educated Muslim woman, as their worst enemy and so she must be eliminated at all cost. But these Muslim extremists are also carrying out mass murder of ordinary Muslims who considered Benazir Bhutto as their leader. In earlier suicide bombing at mass rally welcoming Bhutto, these fanatics killed more than 100 ordinary Muslims.
Benazir Bhutto's murder is only a new chapter in the continued episode of mass murders by extremists in the name of religion and politics.
Mahmood Elahi
Ottawa, Canada.
Benazir Bhutto's assassination in a gun and bomb attack at a rally in Rawalpindi, is a big tragedy not just for Pakistan but also for all of South Asia and, perhaps, for the world. The world needs to be extremely anxious about the state of Pakistan following this heinous murder. This is not a routine assassination, because it snuffs out whatever faint hope there was of free and fair elections in the country early next year.
The terrorist attack on the convoy welcoming Benazir back from exile, which killed more than a 100 people, was followed soon by Benazir's murder. It shows that terrorism is now lodged in the heart of Pakistan. It is getting worse. The top priority now is to stabilise the nation.
That might seem, at first sight, to mean reinforcing the military and emergency powers of Musharraf. But it is precisely on their watch that Pakistan has arrived at its present perilous state. Musharraf's administration has focused its energies on targeting lawyers, political activists, Supreme Court judges and media-persons, sending thousands of peaceful activists to jail. Making Musharraf the main prop of the nation's stability has failed.
Gopal Sengupta
Canada
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