Benazir Bhutto
1953 – 2007

I sat in stunned disbelief yesterday afternoon as I read with physical pain of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Everybody loses, nobody wins. A hope for Pakistan dashed. Would she have been elected next week? Probably. Would she have made a difference for the Pakistanis? Probably. John Burns of the NY Times said in an interview that she had returned from her self-imposed exile sadder but wiser, knowing the enormity of what her task would be, but with a steely determination to haul Pakistan into the 21st century. Now we will never know. The voice of moderate politics in Pakistan has been stilled. She is lost to the Pakistanis and to the world. I have followed her career with a mixture of admiration and dismay. But this outcome is unthinkable. I am keeping a candle lit to guide her into Paradise. I hope it is a better place.