[NYTr] Tariq Ali on Bhutto's Bloody Return

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

See also: 

"Tariq Ali on Pakistan: Sinking together?" Guardian - Aug 30, 2007 
http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20070827/067440.html


sent by Ed Pearl 

Counterpunch - Oct 20/21, 2007
http://www.counterpunch.org/tariq10202007.html

A Massacre Foretold:

Bhutto's Bloody Return

By Tariq Ali

The massacre in Karachi had been widely predicted. Benazir Bhutto
herself has stated that she was aware of the dangers. The government
pleaded with her to delay her return. Jihadi leaders, angered by her
slavish support of US foreign policy, had publicly threatened to kill
her. She survived but a few hundred people have been killed without
reason.Her husband, who decided not to accompany her, has accused
Pakistani intelligence of complicity in the attacks. Benazir Bhutto
herself has preferred to attack the followers of a dead military
dictator.

Once it had become obvious that something was being planned, she would
have been better advised to make a quiet return, but she insisted on a
show of strength. The planning had been going on for over a month. The
130,000 people who were brought to welcome her in trucks and buses
from allover the province(how many of them were paid is still not
clear). In addition there were 20,000 police and paramilitary
personnel for her protection. All to no avail. It ended in a
bloodbath, remind us once again of the volatile nature of politics in
Pakistan.

More trouble lies ahead. Benazir may be the preferred politician of
Washington and the EU, but the Supreme Court is considering five
separate petitions to reject the Ordnance that pardons corrupt
politicians. Were the court to accept these petitions, Ms Bhutto would
have to serve time in prison. This would not displease the government.
They would pretend to bow before the dictates of justice.

The tragedy of Pakistan is that the People's Party of Bhutto and its
rivals offer no real alternatives to the policies currently being
pursued. The State Department notion of Bhutto perched on Musharraf's
shoulder parrotting pro-Washington homilies was always ridiculous. Now
there are doubts as to whether she will even reach the General's
shoulder.

[Tariq Ali's new book, Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis of Hope, is
published by Verso. He can be reached at: tariq.ali3 at btinternet.com]