Benazir Bhutto, 1953-2007
'The Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated near the capital, Islamabad, on Thursday. Witnesses said Ms. Bhutto, who was appearing at a political campaign rally, was fired upon at close range by a gunman, and then struck by shrapnel from a blast that the government said was caused by a suicide bomber.'
- The New York Times
'KARACHI: At least 14 persons were killed including 10 in this port city as rioting broke out on Thursday in several parts of Pakistan following the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto.'
- The Times of India
'The list of those who may be implicated is long and, in the end, the truth may never emerge.'
- The Guardian
'The bullets and bomb that killed Benazir Bhutto also put Pakistan's future in jeopardy. The effort to return the country to democracy is in intensive care, with the elections due on January 8 very much in question.'
- Julian Border, The Guardian
'The daughter of one of Pakistan's most flamboyant and democratically inclined prime ministers, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, she inherited the mantle of the populist Pakistan People's Party that he founded and came to personify it.'
- Jane Perlez and Victoria Burnett, The International Herald Tribune
'In death Benazir Bhutto might have managed to do what eluded her in the last years of her life... In life she was a politician. In death she became a martyr.'
- Sandip Roy, Salon
'The fact of the matter is that Benazir's undoubted courage had a certain fanaticism to it. She had the largest Electra complex of any female politician in modern history, entirely consecrated to the memory of her executed father, the charming and unscrupulous Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who had once boasted that the people of Pakistan would eat grass before they would give up the struggle to acquire a nuclear weapon.'
- Christopher Hitchens, Slate
'At this point all sorts of thoughts float through the politics of this. Why did this happen? Why was it not stopped? What could have been done to stop this senseless murder? Maybe she should not have come back? Who did this? What will this mean for the elections? What will this mean for the PPP? What will this mean for Gen. Musharraf? What will this mean for Pakistan? But all of these are paled by thoughts about Benazir as a person. The woman. The wife. The mother. The human being. What about her?'
- Adil Najam, Pakistaniat.com
- The New York Times
'KARACHI: At least 14 persons were killed including 10 in this port city as rioting broke out on Thursday in several parts of Pakistan following the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto.'
- The Times of India
'The list of those who may be implicated is long and, in the end, the truth may never emerge.'
- The Guardian
'The bullets and bomb that killed Benazir Bhutto also put Pakistan's future in jeopardy. The effort to return the country to democracy is in intensive care, with the elections due on January 8 very much in question.'
- Julian Border, The Guardian
'The daughter of one of Pakistan's most flamboyant and democratically inclined prime ministers, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, she inherited the mantle of the populist Pakistan People's Party that he founded and came to personify it.'
- Jane Perlez and Victoria Burnett, The International Herald Tribune
'In death Benazir Bhutto might have managed to do what eluded her in the last years of her life... In life she was a politician. In death she became a martyr.'
- Sandip Roy, Salon
'The fact of the matter is that Benazir's undoubted courage had a certain fanaticism to it. She had the largest Electra complex of any female politician in modern history, entirely consecrated to the memory of her executed father, the charming and unscrupulous Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who had once boasted that the people of Pakistan would eat grass before they would give up the struggle to acquire a nuclear weapon.'
- Christopher Hitchens, Slate
'At this point all sorts of thoughts float through the politics of this. Why did this happen? Why was it not stopped? What could have been done to stop this senseless murder? Maybe she should not have come back? Who did this? What will this mean for the elections? What will this mean for the PPP? What will this mean for Gen. Musharraf? What will this mean for Pakistan? But all of these are paled by thoughts about Benazir as a person. The woman. The wife. The mother. The human being. What about her?'
- Adil Najam, Pakistaniat.com