Benazir
Bhutto has never looked this good. This week has seen the international press
posthumously apotheosising the telegenic Pakistani politician. But the
widely-expressed view that Benazir epitomised Pakistan’s hopes for
democracy, which have now perished with her, seriously overstates both what she
represented and the implications of her demise.
The former chief martial law
administrator had to doff his uniform - long overdue, since he was three years
past the retirement age for any general - and find a credible civilian partner
to help make a plausible case for democratisation. Benazir - well-spoken,
well-networked in Washington and London, and passionate in her avowals of
secular moderation, however self-serving - was the chosen one.
Her first two stints had,
however, been inglorious. From 1988-90 she had been overawed by the military,
whose appointed president duly dismissed her from office on plausible charges of
corruption
clipped from: timesofindia.indiatimes.com