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Friday, October 19, 2007

Politicians Don't Care About You (Pakistani Edition)

clipped from www.nytimes.com

Bomb Attack Kills Scores in Pakistan as Bhutto Returns

KARACHI, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 19 — Two bombs exploded Thursday just seconds apart and feet from a truck carrying the returning opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, narrowly missing her but killing scores of people and bloodying her triumphal homecoming after eight years in exile.

The bombs killed 134 people and wounded 450, according to the home secretary of Sindh Province, Ghulam Mohatarem.

Before the explosions sundered the celebration, thousands of supporters and workers from her party had lined Ms. Bhutto’s route, waving banners and surging forward for a glimpse of the opposition leader. Many danced in the road.

This disgusts me and I hate to overstate this because clearly the bad guys here are the extremists who tried to kill former Prime Minister Bhutto; however, she was warned that this may happen. Pakistani security requested that she take a 10 minute helicopter ride to her destination instead of a 10 HOUR bus ride. This made her a slow moving target for attacks and put at risk the 200,000+ Pakistanis who rallied in the streets around her. Scores died so she could have a parade in honor of her.

I wish her the best of luck in trying to restore true democracy to Pakistan while also stamping out extremism. I also hope that in the future, she will consider the safety of her people over her own personal political aggrandizement.

Shameful.

Comments on "Politicians Don't Care About You (Pakistani Edition)"

 

Blogger Mosquito said ... (5:29 AM) : 

You are blaming the victim.

From what little I know of Bhutto....the Pakistani people are upset and in mourning. What happened to Bhutto in Pakistan could be compared to the situation in America when JFK was assassinated.

Twisting the bravery of Bhutto into a contemptible "uncaring" is extrem, imo....

Buzz...Buzz....

 

Blogger Tokatakiya said ... (9:34 PM) : 

Wow. You should really try to understand what you are talking about before you post a comment.

You obviously know little about Bhutto. Why don't you go back and actually read the John Burns piece that was the point of my post yesterday. Then maybe you'll understand my point and not make knee-jerk accusations about "blaming the victim".

There is a difference between "bravery", as you put it, and recklessness.

It is one thing to selflessly risk one's own life for a cause; it is another to risk the lives of hundreds of other people for you own self aggrandizement.

Furthermore, to your ridiculous analogy, JFK didn't know for a fact that people were actively trying to kill him and as many others in as spectacular a fashion as possible. If he did, I doubt he would have ridden on top of a bus through dense crowds of people for 10+ hours. But I guess that is just being "brave".

Finally, I don't think Bhutto deserved to die, but she should be remembered for what she was - not as some media generated fiction of what she was.

 

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