ANALYSIS

Troubles in Pakistan: Benazir Bhutto’s Assassination and Its Implications



By Arturo P. Garcia

AJLPP

December 30, 2007



“She who rides the tiger ends up in it.”



The tragic death by assassination of Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan highlights the failure of American foreign policy. For a person who was cultivated by the personal diplomacy of America and beholden to Anglo-American policy – promising to support the US against al-Qaeda and the unlimited use of Pakistan nuclear power in the service of America, Benazir Bhutto was foremost a willing American puppet.



Her political opportunism stemmed from her desire to vindicate herself and to be in power as prime minister for the third time, and underscores the weakness of US diplomacy that was based on personality, populism and charisma.



Benazir Bhutto was an American ally and a populist like her father, the founder of Pakistan People’s Party, who came to power after the break-up of Pakistan into two separate countries in 1971: East Pakistan became what is now Bangladesh and West Pakistan, now the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.



Her father was deposed by the military led by General Zia Al Haq who hanged Zulfikar Ali Bhutto for his political beliefs in 1979. Benazir Bhutto became the successor of her father and later became the county’s first woman prime minister in 1988.



Family Rivalry



The inner struggle within the Bhutto family is the microcosm of the class struggle in the Pakistani society. Her younger brother, Murtaza was the leader of a shadowy group – Al Zulfikar which waged protracted urban guerrilla warfare in Pakistan against dictator Zia Al Haq in the 1980s.



When Benazir assumed the mantle of leadership as prime minister and proclaimed herself the “Pakistan People’s Party president for life,” she clashed with her brother who believed basic reforms must happen in Pakistan. Many believed that she ordered the killing of his brother or consented to his murder by the military in Karachi while she was the prime minister in 1996. Her brother had the support of her mother.



Twice, her government was dismissed because of widely perceived graft and corruption. She and her husband were charged in court and were found guilty of graft charges. Her husband found notoriety and was called “Mr. Ten Percent” for his wheeling-and-dealing in the government.

Benazir Bhutto was able to return to Pakistan last October because President Pervez Musharraf granted her amnesty. It was a part of the American deal that they were to share power between themselves. But Musharraf reneged on his promise and monopolized power by himself. Bhutto’s party even blamed General Musharraf for her assassination.



Philippines and Pakistan: A Study in Parallelisms



The Philippines and Pakistan seem to run a parallel course. Both countries have been under a dictatorship since the 1970’s. Both have seen turbulent times. Both have also experienced people’s power exercises in the middle of the 1980’s. The only difference is that Pakistan is a nuclear power and a recipient of an even larger U.S. military largesse.



The assassination of Benazir Bhutto is a clear warning to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines. It is somewhat akin to the assassination of former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. in 1983. His widow Mrs. Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco-Aquino later became the president of the Philippines after dictator Marcos was deposed by a people power uprising in 1986.



Ninoy Aquino was also an asset of the CIA and was given a scholarship by the US in Harvard University while he was in exile in the US from 1980 to 1983. His study on post-Marcos scenarios was made into a national security study directive (NSSD) by the US State Department in 1984 and was used extensively in the Philippines.



While Bhutto was a populist and an accomplished bourgeois politician who could muster public support, Arroyo stays in power because she has maintained control over the military. Arroyo lacks public support and is perceived to be the most corrupt president the Philippines ever had ever since Marcos. She and her husband are ready to defend her power by any means necessary – even ready to commit a bloodbath just to stay in power.



Both have corrupt lawyer-husbands and are believed to have stashed away millions abroad. While Arroyo is building her own dynasty with his two boys as congressmen, hold a tight leash on the beholden military, Benazir failed to keep her military in check.



Benazir has just become another bad statistic, joining the ranks of assassinated women leaders of South Asia: Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India and Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). #