Fading Light

"Just a second Sudhir" JS asked me to stop as I tried to move from MSN.com to google. "Benazir Bhutto" he said. "Yeah, I can see there's her picture". Inside I thought, "Big deal huh". But as I read the caption that accompanied her picture my heart skipped a beat. "Benazir Bhutto assassinated" it said.

I feel sad for Pakistan. Ever since its establishment it has suffered a horrid fate - dictatorship after dictatorship (including the present one), throttling of democracy (even by Ms Bhutto when she was the Prime Minister), slipping further into the stone age in terms of freedom, women's liberation and rights, religion and other social (and economic) parameters, continued loss of face each time it tried aggressive postures with India to name some.

Benazir Bhutto was a charismatic leader (cliche; sorry to use that). Controversial too. Like every seasoned politician she knew how to play her cards. She also was adept at changing her postures, stances, words, et al to suit her political games and convenience. May be she pushed her luck a bit too far this time. Despite security threats and repeated requests by now-ally-now-bully Musharraf and an unsuccessful attempt on her life the previous month she went ahead with her canvassing and political morchas. Despite her many shortcomings she was still a much better political person (despite her husband too) in Pakistan - whose integrity was rarely questioned.

Just when the entire world was thinking that the current regime of dictatorship would come to an end and another wave of democratic rule would be heralded comes the jolt. It surely will take many years for Pakistan to come out of the mess it is in. Time will tell whether the injuries would heal and the scars will disappear. Doubts in everyone's mind surely would persist until that really hapens.

The colours in political Pakistan have lost their shine. The light that was to flood there seems to be fading. Twilight probably was mistaken for dawn!