News of the murder of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto [1] was received with shock across the Middle East.
Bahrain:
From Bahrain, blogger Mahmood Al Yousif sends [2] his condolences to the people of Pakistan.
“My condolences to the Pakistani people for her loss and its barbaric method. When all that is left is the law of force and terrorism to get your point of view across, you have already lost the cause. Peace-loving human beings should be unequivocal in their condemnation of terrorist acts. Because if things are left as they are, and violence is simply condoned, then we can rest assured that we and those we love will soon be in the cross-fire,” he writes.
Saudi Arabia:
Saudi blogger Rasheed Abou-Alsamh was also saddened by Bhutto's loss. He wrote [3]:
I was shocked and saddened. I had always been a supporter of Benazir and of the whole Bhutto family. To me they, and the Pakistani People’s Party that Benazir’s father the late Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto founded in 1967, represented progressive and secular ideals that would help propel Pakistan from the ranks of dysfunctional Third World countries to that of developing nations that were successful such as Brazil and Malaysia.
The blogger and journalist then links to an interview he conducted with Bhutto's brother, Murtaza, who was also assassinated in Pakistan.
Qatar:
In Qatar, Abdulrahman Warsame links [4] between the brutality of her murder and the violent situation in Pakistan. He explains:
The barbaric nature of her murder shows how deeply violent Pakistan has become; the government blames Alqaeda and Taliban, that was expected!. But it couldn't have been the government; this was a huge blow to Parvez Musharraf who wanted the elections to go ahead peacefully, to gain some legitimacy, and Bhutto was the most suitable candidate to rebuild his image in the West. But now that she's gone, he's stuck with his arch-rival Nawaz Sharif.
No one knows how things will turn out in Pakistan after the elections now that the government has decided not to postpone them, but the political turmoil is set to continue as long as Musharraf is in control.
UAE:
Seabee, who lives in Dubai, finds Bhutto's murder pointless [5]. He writes:
On reflection I suppose it really wasn't a surprise that Benazir Bhutto was murdered. In fact she talked of the danger herself several times recently.
Plus the ‘collateral damage’ of others killed and injured as a result of the attack on her. And make no mistake, there will be even more deaths in the coming days and weeks as a result of this.
What an appalling comment on where we are as human beings. Tens of thousands of years of evolution and we're mentally still in the Stone Age, brainless, the worst animals on the planet.
Israel:
For Israeli Nissim Dahan, who lives in the US, Bhutto's murder reminded him of “the sense of hopelessness that permeates much of the world.” He further continues [6]:
I am not a student of Pakistan’s history. And I have been made to understand, of late, that in the past, Mrs. Bhutto represented a mixed bag with respect to the aspirations of her people. Yes, there are persistent charges of corruption, and accusations that she supported the Taliban. But I can’t believe that her legacy will be defined only by her negatives.
There are several things to consider when we seek to judge her. She was a woman who defied the odds and was twice elected to lead a country that was not predisposed to elect her. Yes, she was driven out on charges of corruption, but, and this should not be underestimated, she chose to come back home. She was not naïve. She knew she faced a grave threat to her personal safety, a point that was driven home when she just arrived. And yet she chose to come back to compete in the political arena. Could blind ambition, alone, explain that? I think not. There must have been some noble aspiration on her part that compelled her to take the risk. Perhaps she learned from past mistakes and wanted to set things right? We can only guess.