I'm posting an older note I wrote about Benazir when she died on the reasons why she wasn't exactly what she was perceived by Western media
On a human level, I agree that death in itself is senseless, be it random violence, politically targeted, capital punishment or whatever else.
On the other hand from the emotional/non-rational side of one's psyche the reason why some people (including myself) are celebrating her dispatch from the world is very simple. She was a bad person that had done great evil.
Personally I would've preferred her to have her day in court be tried convicted and serve out the rest of her life behind bars but being who she was and the power/loyalty she commanded and in a country like Pakistan the chances of that happening were always about zero.
For those curious about who she was and what she did a short-list, you can verify with your own research over the net
- Driving force behind the rise of the Taliban (basically during her watch (93-96) the Pakistani government and intelligence community provided the Taliban the logistical financial and material support it needed to gain power in Afghanistan)
- Swindled the people out of billions of dollars (look up her mansion in England and her swiss accounts and the Swiss and Spanish authorities investigation of the same, her conviction in Switzerland for money laundering, also look up her husband's affectionate nickname of Mr. 10%) http://query.nytimes.com/...
- Look up the 1995 year-end Herald (Paki publication) titled City of Death where 2500+ people were killed in extra-judicial killings. These were a result of her putting Karachi under siege. The dead were largely her political opponents (yes some percentage of them may have been guilty of various minor and major crimes but without due process one can/will never know)
- Lookup the writings of Fatima Bhutto - Benazir's Niece about how her dad (Murtaza) was killed by Benazir in cold blood outside his home. As expected the investigation went nowhere and fast (Also this was during the time when she was Prime Minister) http://www.latimes.com/...
- If you followed the news over the past year or two you may have heard the draconian Hudood Ordinance was finally toned down if not eliminated etc. She was in power for 5-6 years and being a woman of course couldn't move against a law universally condemned be women's rights organizations and most other people. Challenging the religious right is bad for political power...
- Go back and listen to her speeches when she was in power and immediately after she lost power you get the distinct sense of her feeling that controlling Pakistan's destiny was her birthright, her personal fiefdom
But in any case for whatever she was her death in this manner is wrong, she should've had her day in court before facing a firing squad or spending her days behind bars not to score a political point or be branded a martyr.
Also about the murderers themselves, either it was the establishment in which case the chaos suits them allowing them to reassert authority or the growing fundamentalist movement which also stands to gain from any ensuing chaos.
Note: Presume you guys followed the dynastic handover to her 19 yo son of her 'democratic' empire... vive le democracy eh
Jemima Khan (GoldSmith)'s commentary http://www.telegraph.co.uk/...
Tariq Ali's commentary http://www.lrb.co.uk/...
A blog summarizing similar issues - http://sigmundcarlandalfred.wordpres...