Washington, Jan 2 (ANI): The US should immediately endorse the demand for an international investigation into the assassination of former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto in the wake of Islamabad’s dubious claim that she was not shot, but died because she hit her head on the sunroof of her SUV, says the Los Angeles Times.
In an article the daily states that the Bush Administration’s ‘ignominious’ plan to keep Pervez Musharraf in the presidency, while ushering in the popular Bhutto to serve as Prime Minister is now in ruins, and the White House should now seize the opportunity, though belatedly, to “get on the right side of history in Pakistan.”
“Whether or not Musharraf’s government was culpable or negligent in Bhutto’s death, its handling of the assassination has created grave doubts about its intentions,” the daily writes, adding that the failure of the US Government to endorse the demand for an international investigation into Bhutto’s death might send a signal that the Americans only support justice in those cases where suspected perpetrators are not US allies like Syria in the case pertaining to assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The daily also criticises the political succession in Benazir’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). The ‘election’ of Benazir’s 19-year-old son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as the Chairman of the party and his father becoming the co-chairman of the party has been termed as a “farce of a potentially disastrous dynastic succession.”
“Benazir’s successors, a notoriously corrupt husband and a sheltered 19-year-old son, do not (have the legitimacy to be Pakistan’s pre-eminent opposition leader). Neither is qualified to lead a nuclear-armed nation of 165 million citizens, many of them understandably angry and demoralized,” the daily writes.
It states that PPP’s split may not be a ‘bad thing’, and blames Benazir for the lack of charismatic leaders in her party.
“…Bhutto herself allowed no rivals to rise. The party must now set about identifying and promoting a new generation of political talent. There is room for hope in that regard. The recent revolt of the Pakistani lawyers against the imposition of emergency rule spotlighted the courage of thousands of pro-democracy activists willing to go to jail for their belief in the rule of law,” it adds. (ANI)