Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto Returns to Pakistan

Yesterday, Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto arrived home after years of self-imposed exile. Tens of thousands lined the streets to cheer her arrival. “I have come here to serve the oppressed people of Pakistan,” she boldly announced. If she counts herself and General President Musharraf among the oppressed, then she has indeed come to serve them.

It seems that under pressure from the Yanks and the Brits, the two came to an accommodation of the most ugly sort. She claims her deal with General President Musharraf is a step on the road back to democracy in Pakistan. She told The Times (London’s, not New York or LA’s), “It is not a perfect agreement, but it is an important beginning, bringing reform and political change closer without the chaos and bloodshed under which extremism and militancy thrive.”

Ms. Bhutto had been facing charges of corruption, in particular taking huge kickbacks during her two terms as PM. She and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, allegedly amassed assets that include a ten-bedroom, mock-Tudor Surrey mansion and £740 million in Swiss bank accounts. The government has dropped the charges, so there may be no way for the Swiss to deny them access to the money. That may come in quite handy in the run up to the parliamentary elections.

In exchange for the quashing of these charges, Adrian Levy of The Guardian states, “she would agree to support him [General President Musharraf] as a civilian president for his full five-year term and cede all responsibility for foreign affairs, internal and external security, the country’s WMD programme and its armed services to him.” Mr. Levy also noted that earlier this year, “If she stayed away from Pakistan during the general election, Musharraf would ‘adjust the vote’ to favour her party. He was offering to rig the election.” No one doubts she is going to be the next prime minister, with a billion dollars. He is going to continue as president and will command, albeit indirectly, a military that now controls 12% of Pakistan’s landmass. Mr. Levy says “only 70,000 acres is set aside for military facilities. The other 12m acres have been turned into private farmland and individual estates for Musharraf's key generals, making them millionaires. Musharraf, too. Although he officially lives for free in Army House, in Rawalpindi, on a salary of $1,400 a month, he has somehow acquired a real-estate portfolio worth $10m.”

As for the oppressed people of Pakistan, a great many of them, millions in fact, are pro-Bhutto, and quite a lot, millions again, like the current leader. However, Pakistan has a rather large population, and a significant number (like the backers of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was deported hours after returning from exile himself a couple weeks ago) are shut out of a rigged system. Perhaps, this marriage of convenience will take hold and things in Pakistan will improve. Perhaps not, in which case, there is only one direction for them to go. The smart money is still on the sidelines, but the bombing that accompanied Ms. Bhutto home killed about 30 people. It won't be on the sidelines much longer.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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