Benazir Bhutto - so what?

Just after the bomb. A way of life (and death) for the followers of Islam

So what indeed? We have all known for a long time that Pakistan is on the brink of slipping into complete anarchy and only a ruthless military dictatorship has kept a lid on things until now. Is it now about to tip into the Abyss?

Just seconds before the gunman opened fire

I care not a jot for the fate of Benazir Bhutto, despite what the obituaries say. She was as corrupt and as ruthless as those she sought to replace and for those prepared to live by the sword, then they must equally be prepared to die by it.

And in a country where the mad mullahs have taken over the asylum there are more than enough Islamic maniacs willing to wield the sword and one of them done just that today. The thought of a woman, famous for her friendships in the West, returning to become Prime Minister would make them go even more bananas than they already are.

Th al-Qaeda terrorist network has claimed responsibility and issued the following statement:

“We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat [the] mujahadeen,” Al-Qaeda’s commander and main spokesperson Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid told Adnkronos International (AKI) in a phone call from an unknown location, speaking in faltering English. Al-Yazid is the main al-Qaeda commander in Afghanistan.

It is believed that the decision to kill Bhutto, who is the leader of the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP), was made by al-Qaeda No. 2, the Egyptian doctor, Ayman al-Zawahiri in October.

And then of course there were her other enemies. So who knows who really done it.

• Taliban fighters and other Islamic extremists who resent a woman who wants to keep religion out of government and who supports the U.S. war on terror. Bhutto inflamed the militants recently when she said she might allow U.S. forces onto Pakistani soil to hunt Taliban and al-Qaeda forces hiding along the rugged Afghan-Pakistani border. The Taliban threatened to greet her with suicide bombers — but denied responsibility for the bloodshed in Karachi.

• Militant supporters of her estranged brother Murtaza, who was gunned down by police in 1996 during Benazir’s second term as prime minister. Murtaza had emerged as a key critic of her regime and head of an armed left-wing Peoples Party splinter group. “He had die-hard supporters who blame her for his death,” Sehgal says.

• Members of the military establishment who undermined her two governments and who three decades ago overthrew and executed her father, the charismatic Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Well there is rioting in Pakistan at the moment. One wonders whether it will spread to the streets of our enriched society and if it does will we even be told about it unless we smell the smoke ourselves?

For images taken during the attack you can go here. Some are very graphic and there is a video of the aftermath here.