Yet, the Pakistani authorities failed to protect her. If the past is any guide, they will also fail to find those who plotted the assassination, which has now been claimed by Al-Qaida.
That raises questions, at the very least, about their ability to confront the terror that faces the country, which is the reason why the military assumed extraordinary powers in the first place.
As rioting spreads across Pakistani cities, an isolated Musharraf administration will be tempted to hit out with blind repression. Which will push Pakistan closer to the edge of chaos, even possibly disintegration. The problem for the rest of the world is that Pakistan has nuclear weapons.
Washington has for long had a single-point agenda of relying on the Pakistani military, even though the country's Islamisation began under the watch of General Zia-ul-Haq and it became a haven for Al-Qaida under General Musharraf.
To tackle terror Pakistan needs a legitimate and popular government and the focus has to shift from personalities to institutions and processes. The holding of credible elections under present conditions looks unlikely. There has to be at least a medium-term plan, in which the international community should be involved, to bridge this divide.
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