Assassinating the Democratic Process
By Frank Salvato

The assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto presents a cadre of possibilities for the future of Pakistan, the South Asian and Middle Eastern regions and the world. One positive result from this barbaric event would be that her supporters in the Pakistan People’s Party would press forward in a more concerted and immediate effort to bring the democratic process to fruition in the wake of her murder, thus advancing the very principles for which she was killed. But, with iniquitous forces holding considerable influence – both inside Pakistan’s government and out – the prospects for any positive outcome to this tragedy are minuscule. With the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan has become the epicenter in the global war against Islamofascist aggression.

That Pakistan is a volatile and politically complex country is an understatement. Ever since its creation in an Indian move to independence from Britain in 1947, Pakistan has struggled with its political identity while trying to lend credence to the claim of being the home of South Asian Muslims. The osmotic migration of Muslims to Pakistan and Hindus to India served to create the Kashmiri conflict. With the USSR’s Cold War intervention in Afghanistan, Pakistan saw an influx of thousands of mujahedeen who used Pakistan as a launch point for their jihad against the Soviets. With the defeat of the Soviets in Afghanistan many of the jihadi staging and training locations in Pakistan became more permanent and those who were drawn to jihad by the fascist rhetoric of radical Islam turned their attention toward Bosnia, Chechnya, Indonesia and the infidels of the West.

Today there are both pro-democracy and pro-Islamist factions existing throughout every aspect of Pakistani society, including its government and military structures. Because Pakistan, in its creation, was to serve as a homeland for India’s Muslim population the cohesive force behind Pakistani society is Islam. But while Pakistan’s military leaders, in their quest for power and control, adopted Islamic ideology in its attempt to seek legitimacy in their rule, the seeds of democracy were sown into the political ideology of Pakistanis early on. This ideological and political dichotomy exists today.

While the existence of pro-Islamists in Pakistan’s government and military are more readily recognizable this is not the case with Pakistan’s ISI, the Inter-Services Intelligence community. Throughout the Soviet incursion into Afghanistan and ensuing Afghan civil war the ISI trained and equipped many Pakistani-based radical Islamist groups, groups that were not only sympathetic to the Taliban but literally held the same radical Islamist belief system.

It is because of this fundamental relationship between now indigenous radical Islamist groups and Pakistan’s governmental & military institutions and intelligence community that Pakistan is vulnerable to radical and abrupt political change. It is also one of the primary arguments for President Pervez Musharraf’s inclination to impose a stabilizing martial law over the whole of the nation, a move Benazir Bhutto’s assassination will no doubt facilitate once again.

But imposing martial law – or military rule – presents as a double-edged sword for Musharraf. While it may help to stabilize a volatile populace in the short term, it fuels a deep-seated anger among radical Islamists and those prone to Islamic fundamentalism, thus bolstering the abilities of those radical Islamist groups and terrorist organizations that now – for all practical purposes – rule the tribal areas on the Pakistan-Afghan border. These are the same tribal areas from where it is suspected al Qaeda now operates and where it is alleged Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri take refuge.

Perhaps the most troublesome component to Pakistan’s societal complexion is the fact that it is a nuclear capable nation. The establishment of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program in 1972 was meant to counter in balance India’s newly established nuclear capability. In Pakistan’s 1998 announcement that it had joined the nuclear weapons club it became the first Islamic nation to possess the capability of bringing about nuclear Armageddon. The current atmosphere of political volatility in Pakistan, coupled with its ideological identity crisis and the expanding influence of radical Islamists, lends credibility to the worries of many in the international community that, should the worst case scenario play out, radical Islamists – al Qaeda and like minded radical organizations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jamaat al Fuqra, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and others – could very well come into the possession of nuclear weapons, safeguard codes and all, courtesy of a fractured military complex.

In the wake of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination word comes through shadowy communication channels that Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid, al Qaeda’s commander in Afghanistan, claims Bhutto’s death at the hands of al Qaeda:

“We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat [the] mujahedeen...”

The epicenter in the global war against Islamofascist aggression is now situated in Pakistan and specifically in the tribal areas of Pakistan on the Pakistan-Afghan border. In addition, the stakes in this conflict have been drastically increased along with the need for a timetable outlining definitive action. Now, along with global conquest and the establishment of a Sharia Caliphate, Islamofascists are but a heartbeat away from including nuclear Armageddon for those who oppose their totalitarian world dream.

Western governments must dispense with the limitations imposed by even the most lenient interpretations of the politically correct dogma and wake to the now nuclear threat that has been allowed to amass under the demands of the visionless and suicidal multicultural fifth column. World leaders must embrace the harsh realities of the consequences a nuclear al Qaeda or Hamas or Hezbollah would bear for the world. The time for contemplating the possibilities has passed. Inaction at this point is tantamount to a self-imposed death warrant.

Human nature lends itself to narcissism and the trappings of evil more than it does to the utopian vision of the multicultural politically correct. It is time to recognize this reality and employ leadership that will ensure our survival. The time for wishful thinking has passed.

R.I.P. Benazir Bhutto.