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Death Leaves Nation Crumbling

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 28, 2007

The suicide attack that killed Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Thursday cut short an epic life, one bathed in blood and awash with controversy.

Bhutto's father was hanged, and a brother was shot to death. She had risen to become the Islamic world's first female prime minister, only to lose office and flee Pakistan for most of a decade in the face of accusations that she was corrupt.

When she finally returned in October to marshal the opposition against President Pervez Musharraf, her homecoming parade in Karachi was targeted by a suicide attacker. More than 140 people died, but 54-year-old Bhutto escaped injury.

Now, her death leaves the country, already an unstable beacon for democracy in the Middle East, shaken to the core.

The campaign for critical Jan. 8 parliamentary elections has been thrown into chaos, and fears are rising of mass protests and violence across the nation, a U.S. ally in the war on terrorism.

So even as world leaders extend their condolences and laud the fallen leader's commitment to democratic reform, concerns are turning toward the bigger picture - the increasing instability of a volatile region.

The Associated Press

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