Zulfikar Bhutto’s daughter seems undaunted by the suicide bombings at her rally, but she made her point again that military rule alone cannot solve Pakistan’s problems.
She is right; because Musharraf would not have struck a deal with her if he had felt that he was capable of handling things on his own. Moreover Uncle Sam was breathing down his neck, nudging him closer to Benazir. The Islamist extremists are after him after the Red Mosque incident. The country’s western frontier provinces are afire and Al Qaeda/Taliban rules the roost in these areas.
Benazir desisted from blaming the government. She blamed the rogue elements in it who are collaborating with the Mullahs, who now resent the possibility of sharing power with Benazir. They lack the foresight of Musharraf to understand that if the Mullahs get any stronger they will one day grab total power in Pakistan.
Musharraf and Benazir have their work cut out. She becomes prime minister; he becomes president (provided the rejuvenated judiciary does not stand in his way) and they together fight the extremists in Pakistan. That is the script US has prepared for Pakistan.
Al Qaeda and Taliban understand that too. Hence the massive bomb blast. Though Benazir remains unshaken and Musharraf with the army behind him (at least for now) sounds unruffled, such bombings could have an impact on the future course of Pakistani politics. How?
The parliament elections are due in January next year. Threats of suicide bombings will dampen enthusiastic campaigning. The political parties will not be able to reach out effectively to the masses. This will rob the elected candidates of some of the authority that the polls will give them.
This will dilute the US formula that Benazir and co.’s democratic power and Musharraf’s army power combine to fight the Islamists. An election marred with violence and bombings is hardly likely to throw up true representatives of the people.
But whatever happens there is little possibility that Pakistan will break up or that the mad mullahs will get control of Pakistani nukes because the country’s core, the military still stands undivided (despite some aberrations) and solid.
