Khan Muhammad, 70, wept and cried in a small town of Bahawalpur, Khanqah Sharif, for three days while watching the footages on the personality and politics of Benazir Bhutto after her gruesome murder in Rawalpindi. The more he saw the people mourning over her death in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, the more he became nervous. "Those who have killed her will have no place in the heaven, for infidels will enter into it in the hereafter," he said.
Khan Muhammad is the resident of Lodhran and identifies himself with the tribe that occupies a vast estate in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh. He had greeted Zulfikar Ali Bhutto when he came in his city during the election campaign of 1977 elections and Benazir Bhutto had accompanied her father. He along with his clan, occupying a vast area on the upper banks of Sutlej River, has stood with PPP and is satisfied that Bhutto's dynasty stays intact with party chairmanship going into the hands of Bilawal, the eldest son of Benazir.
While Khan Muhammad took the matter on tribal lines, there was a strong reason for others to feel sorry for the fate Benazir has met. During her recent visit she had promised waving off the interest on the amount small farmers like him have borrowed from Zari Traqiati Bank (ZTBL) but they have failed to pay back due to the failure of cotton crop. Every year they have sowed this cash crop in the hope for better days but the falling canal water supplies, soaring energy and fertilizer prices have marginalised their profits. "Those who have murdered Bhutto are the enemies of the poor. They want our lands of the poor farmers auctioned by the ZTBL officials," a small farmer said.
Mushtaq, a retired railways employee, turned speechless. He had attached great hopes with Benazir Bhutto and was sure that after coming into power she would open up employment opportunities for the unskilled workers. He has three sons whom he wanted to see as BPS-4 railway employees. He was campaigning for PPP secretly earlier but had got embolden enough to hold corner meetings.
A S Brohi remained at home for three days in Larkana and watched helplessly as Sindh sunk in anarchy. The land links between Sindh and Punjab were cut off. Loot, arson and robberies followed. Government authority broke down in most parts of the province of Sindh. Petrol pumps and CNG stations were closed for fear of attacks by the rioters.
Besides the banks, petrol pumps, shops and plazas, there have also been attacks on government officials, police stations and revenue offices. Pakistan Railways has suffered loss of billions as bogies, engines and railway stations have been put on fire.
In other parts of Sindh, incidents of violence completely paralysed civic life on second day of mourning with 10 people killed and around two dozens injured. The rioters set ablaze that house of Dr Ghulam Arbab Rahim, the ex-chief minister of Sindh.
Seven workers were burnt to death after a factory was set on fire in Karachi. Death of two policemen has also been reported. Hospitals received eight bodies with gunshot wounds. Over 400 vehicles and 18 banks were burnt in the city, the newspapers reported on Sunday.
Mirza Tahir Baig, in posh area of Lahore, had different concerns, however. A graduate of Quaid-i-Azam University, he runs garment business. The whole city had become closed. He had to close his shops and sit at home. "My daughters had a lot of questions which I had to answer," he said adding that the event was unique in his life and the aftereffects too horrible. For Baig it was anarchy that had followed the death of Benazir Bhutto. "I am really concerned about the future of the country,” he commented.
“Bhutto was a symbol of unity. Her death can fuel separatism in Sindh and Balochistan,” Dr Zafar Iqbal Cheema at the Department of Defence and Strategic Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad warned.
"The situation is more than what it appears," says Dr Mussawar Hussain Bokhari, the professor of Political Science at Islamia University Bahawalpur. There is lack of trust on the part of the people vis-à-vis the government and its ability to deliver.
"The fact that they are attacking the symbols of prosperity (banks, luxury vehicles, petrol pumps etc. indicates the reality that the same do not represent even and equitable growth in economy," Dr Bokhari said. Political leadership should be engaged in fulfilling the gap in trust and it should be engaged through holding elections as soon as possible.
Who murdered Bhutto?
Who killed Benazir Bhutto, is a question that is ripe in the mind of the people at the moment. Benazir was a political leader of international stature. She had served as the primer minister of the country twice. Her travails infused anger among the party workers and the common men alike. Her father was hanged, two brothers killed and her own life put to end through a suicide attack.
The whole country has mourned her death. Musharraf appeared on TV to declare that country's flag would fly half-mast for three days. She was termed a martyr. The private TV channels ran the footage of her last speech she made at Liaqat Bagh where she talked about waging jihad against militancy and restoring law and order in the tribal areas and Balochistan.
The government says it was the work of al-Qaeda that had put her on its hit list. Baitullah Mahsood, as the official version says, is taking care of the religious outfit in the country and he has said to be behind the murder. The interior ministry spokesperson said this while denying the earlier reports that Benazir's death was due to the shots fired by the suicide-bomber. No shrapnel or the piece of bomb has been a cause of the death.
Benazir had done nothing against al-Qaeda, for she was out of the country and her party was out of power since the launching of the war against terror. However, she did embrace the vision of Musharraf vis-à-vis rooting out militancy from the Pure Land and there were fair chances that her party would make government after the elections. Americans were also praising her for her courageous stand against militants. Such fact leads one to conclude that had she not been so open in her support to Musharraf, probably the terrorists would have spared her!
But People’s Party is not going to buy the government's version. The spokesperson of the party has rejected the version of the government vis-à-vis the cause of Benazir's death and Asif Ali Zardari the spouse of the slain leader has termed the ex-ruling party as the Qatil (murderer) League.
Musharraf's dilemma
Baffled by the reaction to the murder of Bhutto across the country, PML-Q will certainly want postponement of elections that the PPP and PML-N want to contest as scheduled. On its part, the government can postpone elections on the pretext that the law and order situation is not so good to have elections but it will certainly have to announce a new date.
The more the elections are delayed the more the tide will turn against Musharraf. It is certain that PPP will emerge as winners if the elections are held as scheduled. Public opinion, at home and abroad, is in the favour of the party. On the other hand it is not clear as to what will be PPP’s attitude towards Musharraf. Sources say that the leadership of the party in Naudero has said that they will like to have their own men in presidency if possible.
