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11/1/2007 - Burden of Proof: Benazir Bhutto Convinced the West that She Can Save Pakistan. But Can She Convince Her Own People? by Nicholas Schmidle

Burden Proof Benazir Bhutto Convinced West She Can Save Pakistan But Can She Convince Her Own People By Nicholas Schmidle November After I wrote newsletter Benazir Bhutto assassinated Rawalpindi December The triggered intense rioting throughout country When violence subsided President Pervez Musharraf delayed parliamentary elections originally scheduled January until February Bhutto party Pakistan People Party margin looking government BENAZIR BHUTTO ENCHANTS western press The Harvard Oxford educated former prime minister knows audiences New York Washington London Her speeches sound saturated War Terror rhetoric Bush administration clarion Speaking media police placed virtual house arrest Islamabad Bhutto described Pakistan nuclear armed pivotal regional peace Western analysts point regular basis I never heard another Pakistani politician discuss country nuclear arsenal terms suggesting weapons could destabilizing While talking American audience months Bhutto suggesting turned power might Dr A Q Khan Western intelligence agencies questioning The Urdu press Pakistan called Bhutto traitor PPP supporters spraying celebrate Bhutto planned return October blasphemer these statements Yet there great delight before Bhutto returned Karachi October after eight years exile I Karachi before scheduled arrival The media melee already swing On front Karachi Press Club scores local journalists crowded around table where people publicity Bhutto Pakistan People Party PPP issued access press passes Hacks milled about garden oversized press passes gling around their necks swapping trade secrets about stories Foreign journalists swarmed Press Club Why Because Karachi based Dawn newspaper recently wrote Benazir Bhutto And October Bhutto company converge Karachi Pakistan populous troubled The smell jasmine trees sense giddiness mingled While registration continued through afternoon television crews unpacked their I headed Lyari slummy neighborhood Karachi where sewer water puddles streets pedestrians watchful avoid random trash flying fourth story windows members Bhutto family revered saints Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto founder PPP merprime minister andBenazir father drewlegionsof supporters Lyari during 1960s 1970s populist politics slogan kapre makan clothing shelter Abdul Wahid skinned founding member PPP would guarantee Bhutto homecoming father memory deserved People coming bicycles Inshallah going flood Karachi tomorrow Wahid The surge excitement understandable since there hardly anything worth getting excited about Pakistan these But I wondered there weren mixed emotions about Bhutto return considering between President Pervez Musharraf which involved waving corruption charges against Bhutto whole thing possible For eight years PPP calling Musharraf demanding ouster suddenly looking coalition government According Maula Baksh another Lyari resident going Bhutto cause frankly rural caught developments Islamabad wouldn NES Bhutto support added mythic untainted legacy father anything Take pillar public square write Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Baksh People pillar In leading Benazir Bhutto return PPP leadership showed logic Baksh statement They festooned black green color flags PPP plastered billboard around airport terminal procession route throughout Lyari portraits Benazir paired beside father On Thursday morning three hours before Bhutto scheduled arrival I hopped motorcycle toward Karachi airport Checkpoints crowds shipping containers turned sideways block affic travel impossible Along massive speakers pumped Bhutto themed songs while PPP flags wrapped around their shoulders superhero capes twirled gyrated drumbeats mesmerizing synthesizer riffs By midday tropical sizzled foreigners SPF became nearly coveted Bhutto sighting The enough PPP leaders SyedaAbida Hussain senior party member arrived yelled phone blaring music daughter other We early Her sounded desperate embattled platoon commander calling headquarters Your father I front telly Before retreated I asked Hussain whether Bhutto compromised returning Pakistan Musharraf Hussain husband politician feudal Punjab fixtures Musharraf demonstrations previous months Could continue chant Musharraf ouster facilitated Bhutto return I still should Hussain replied abruptly correcting herself cutting sentence This Bhutto after Hussain thought better clouding contro versy Adjusting sound diplomatic refined Hussain previously served Pakistan Ambassador United Nations contin Politics possible And Benazir proven herself great politician managed situation Despite minute pleading Mush arraf delay return Benazir decided return She getting tremendous reception Bigger could expected At three Bhutto finished obligatory rituals exile coming shedding tears kissing ground saying prayer boarded mored double decker Bhutto mobile where spend On hicle small erald green enclosure bulletproof glass though Bhutto preferred stand waving people Hundreds thousands showed PPPworkers crowded streets branches glimpse their leader Few Bhutto cahoots Musharraf their leader Music pumped speakers attached Bhutto mobile The festive Bhutto lieutenants surrounded truck chatting their phones glowing seeming prospect Bhutto presence revived their political fortunes The could their phones however reminded everyone electronic jammers designed prevent close range detonation bombs working properly foreshadowing things After months speculation Bhutto Musharraf saved killed party turnout showed PPP remained major itical force country And regardless whether liked Bhutto couldn feeling party supporters Pakistan A hours later Bhutto float barely crept Her flotilla supposed travel another miles through Karachi before winding Mohammad Ali Jinnah founder Pakistan I decided along other reporters flatbed truck I riding search could separate hotels Sunburned hungry I craved hours Since hotel situated along route where Bhutto convoy scheduled I figured I would horns music middle night could downstairs front hotel rejoin procession But sounds never A little after night explosions rocked Bhutto convoy killing least people injuring hundreds Most those young volunteered guard Bhutto I earlier wearing tight white shirts pulled their shalwar kameezes The shirts Jamsaraan Benazir which means roughly Those willing Benazir The explo sions scattered chunks burnt human flesh people clothes Neither Bhutto PPP leadership seriously injured The bombing forced Bhutto reconsider strategy The PPP planned number massive public rallies across Pakistan Yet suicide bombers blowing themselves hours after Bhutto landed Pakistan seemed suicidal endeavor The government blamed Qaeda linked rorists attack announced security holding large rallies might force government gatherings As Bhutto making final preparations return Taliban commander South Waziristan reportedly Our suicide bombers Crowds gathering front terminal Karachi waiting Bhutto plane toarrive Cameramen standing buses background NES Bhutto turned green white headscarf standing Bhutto mobile Hours after convoy began moving still airport control tower background waiting Karachi greet After however commander denied involvement Bhutto blamed government She alleged Musharraf allies behind attack people whose political fortunes would adversely affected resurgence She demanded inter national inquiry wouldn accept results investigation unless FBI Scotland Yard involved Her demand Washington London Officials Islamabad rejected outright THE BOMBING RATTLED BHUTTO aides All eupho hopes October disap peared Even valier journal admitted covering Bhutto events future carried serious security The Bhutto seemed paralyzed What Proceed headlong Punjab another suicide bomber killing hundreds party workers Or watch novelty excitement surround Bhutto return gradually while Karachi On Friday November Bhutto party announced flown Dubai husband children stayed behind Bhutto arrived Karachi weeks earlier Her Dubai couldn odder rumors circu lated Musharraf might declare Martial Law State Emergency ahead decision Supreme Court The court hearing could declared Musharraf ineligible president The friends I drove outside Islamabad afternoon horseback riding We sooner horses unpacked picni lunch tapped laugh could phones started ringing Musharraf actually A state emergency Roads around Islamabad being blocked Phones expected All private television channels taken We rushed The Bhutto rushed Dubai BHUTTO AND MUSHARRAF S SO CALLED DEAL always seemed theater could really happening In other words seemed staged exactly In first after Musharraf declared emergency police rounded thousands Musharraf political opponents Bhutto repeatedly denied special arrangement Musharraf people given while everyone besides hardcore Mush arraf loyalists either house arrest As however Bhutto emboldened On Wednesday PPP workers clashed police front Parliament Lodges apartment complex reserved members national assembly Bhutto declared Friday November would rally Rawalpindi against Musharraf emergency This Musharraf choice allow Bhutto people gather without hindrance sparking movement against demonstrations small threatening Islamabad Rawalpindi guaranteeing neither Bhutto supporters where rally scheduled place THE SWARMS OF RIOT POLICE spent blocking lined street front Bhutto house looked ready battle entire ernment rioters Standing stiff covered ribbed plastic shells their looked Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Looming around concrete barriers numerous coils razor armored personnel carrier parked Bh house School sized paddy wagons large enough hundreds people waited nearby Some police carried assault rifles waved sticks clutched But preparations futile The people around journalists foreign And Musharraf scenes police beating journalists wouldn damaged international image By early Friday morning hordes journalists already descended Bhutto house hoping caravan along PPP leader Rawalpindi Islamabad sister Instead Bhutto house surrounded Although authorities apparently never served proper detention order Bhutto placed under virtual house arrest A little before Naheed Khan Bhutto confidante reporters rally definitely Bhutto would break through cordon compared siege hundred policemen Pakistan being upied In Later Peoples Party spokeswoman million supporters planned attend rally several thousand arrested thousands others blocked entering limits Rawalpindi Islamabad Paki stani government officials finally announced Bhutto release house arrest attend rally Faced actual cover bored hacks cameramen waited outside Bhutto house The points Bhutto supporters party workers tried enter vicinity Typically plainclothes police quickly snatched stuffed paddy wagon There weren arrested perhaps dozen But hardly football field crowded hundreds channels broadcasting around world using portable satellite stations sight political prisoner manhandled Musharraf goons generated flies reaction At point friend received message Bhutto preparing sneak house We called other friends started running toward Literally other journalists chasing something This might closest I running NES bulls Pamplona With cameramen pushing instance punching closer angle prisoners advantage attention chant slogans Long Live Bhutto Give these crumbling walls This regime cannot flash victory signs Despite civil disobedience there relaxation gender codes detachment police women assigned rough women political prisoners Bhutto finally house afternoon press erence concertina police separating media This barbed stands democracy Urdu loudspeaker connected white Land Cruiser When I couldn portion speech Urdu police kindly trans lated Then playing dience Bhutto switched English criticized Musharraf approach fighting War Terror She Our fighting extrem because involved crushing democracy supporters In militants Swat valley North West Frontier Province taken several police stations lowering Pakistan replacing their An orange setting through trees while Bhutto announced plans march eastern Lahore capital Punjab province Islamabad northwest Could crowd Punjab Voters there choosing between Nawaz Sharif party Musharraf party Pakistan Peoples Party Punjabis better educated likely newspapers skeptical Bhutto Pakistan because Musharraf Her revolutionary credentials other words question Acouple hours after Bhutto inside media frenzy dispersed I asked Ahsan Iqbal infor mation secretary Paki Muslim League Nawaz Sharif group Bhutto house arrest strong Musharraf statements removed skepti other opposition parties toward Iqbal admitted still having reservations there ambiguity people minds about whether Bhutto planned sincerely ditch Musharraf But Musharraf continues acting brute Iqbal added Bhutto would eventually embrace sition movement Musharraf pushed himself quagmire There Current ICWA Fellows Elena Agarkova RUSSIA May Elena living Siberia studying management natural resources relationship between Siberia natural riches people Previously Elena Legal Fellow University Washington School Law Berman Envi ronmental Law Clinic She clerked Honorable Cynthia M Rufe federal district court Philadelphia practiced commercial litigation New York office Milbank Tweed Hadley McCloy LLP Elena Moscow Russia volunteered environmental profits Lake Baikal region Siberia She graduated Georgetown University Law Center received bachelor degree political science Barnard College Ezra Fieser GUATEMALA January Ezra interested economic political changes Central America He ICWA fellow living Guatemala where write about rapidly changing economic structure effects politics culture people He formerly deputy editor The Wilmington Del News Journal staff writer Springfield Mass Republican Pulliam Fellow The Arizona Republic He graduate Emerson College Boston Suzy Hansen TURKEY April A John O Crane Memorial Fellow Suzy writing about politics religion Turkey A former editor New York Observer appeared Salon New York Times Book Review Nation other publications She graduated University Pennsylvania Derek Mitchell INDIA September As Phillips Talbot Fellow Derek explore impact global trade economic growth Indians living poverty He served volunteer Swaraj Peeth institute New Delhi dedicated nonviolent conflict resolution Mahatma Gandhi thought Previously Fulbright scholar India Gandhi Peace Foundation He coordinated foreign policy research George Washington University Institute Communitarian Policy Studies worked political organizer New Hampshire Derek graduated degree religion Columbia University Nicholas Schmidle PAKISTAN February Nick freelance writer interested intersection culture religion politics Asia He Pakistan ICWAfellow examining issues ethnic sectarian national identity Previously reported Central Asia Iran His published Washington Post Weekly Standard Foreign Policy Christian Science Monitor elsewhere He holds master degree International Affairs American University Raphael Soifer BRAZIL April An actor director playwright musician theatre educator Raphi Soifer Donors Fellow studying participant observer relationship social change communities throughout Brazil He worked performer director United States Brazil taught performance prisoners underprivileged youth through People Palace Projects Rio Janeiro Com munity Works San Francisco He holds bachelor degree Theatre Studies Anthropology Yale University Institute Fellows chosen basis character vious experience promise They young professionalsfunded spend minimumof years carrying designed programs studyand writing outside UnitedStates The Fellows quired report their findingsand experiences field month They write subject formally orinformally The result unique porting analysis periodicassessment international events issues ICWA Letters ISSN published Institute Current World Affairs Inc exempt operating foundation incorporated New York State offices located Street NW Suite Washington D C 20016 The letters provided charge members ICWAand available libraries professional researchers Phone 4068Fax 0498E orgWeb Executive Director Steven Butler Administrative Assistant Bookkeeper Meera Shah Publications Manager Ellen Kozak Institute Current World Affairs The Crane Rogers Foun dation The Information contained publication printed republished without express written consent Institute Current World Affairs