As pall begins to lift across Karachi, ex-governors join candlelight vigil held outside Bhutto’s home
January 01, 2008
Sonya Fatah
THE TORONTO STAR
KARACHI, Pakistan–For more than two months after Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan, crowds thronged her Karachi residence. Several layers of security prevented access into the high-walled fortress-like home.
But three days after her assassination, a pall of gloom hung over Bilawal House, named after Bhutto’s 19-year-old son and recently announced political heir of her party, the Pakistan Peoples Party.
As nightfall descended on the city, a small crowd gathered outside Bilawal House for a candlelight vigil. Flickering flames from candles set on a white cloth-covered table surrounded a framed photograph of Bhutto, a symbol of hope in a country that has faced serious internal turmoil all year.
“No one is in a mood to celebrate the new year,” said Iqbal Haider, of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan as people around him chanted slogans of support for the slain former prime minister.
“But we wanted to use the occasion to pay tribute to Benazir Bhutto and to hope that the next year will be a better one,” Haider said.
For many people, both in Pakistan and overseas, the return of Bhutto signalled hope for a more liberal and open-minded Pakistan. Losing her at the close of a tumultuous year seemed to the many gathered at Bilawal House to be a particularly bad omen for the country.
Their speeches, laced with despair, reflected a new low in the country’s internal political and security situation.
“We had rested a great deal of our hopes on Benazir Bhutto especially with the rise of extreme elements in the country,” said Rev. Shafiq Kanwar of Karachi’s Trinity Church.
“As a Christian, it is my faith to pray for our leaders and hope that peace may come to Pakistan but I don’t feel good. It’s been a really bad year.”
The elite gathering of mourners, comprising former governors, human rights workers, and civil society representatives placed their hopes for a brighter future in a few candles that lit up the fading image of Bhutto.
Not all Pakistanis were as affected by the opposition leader’s sudden death. Many, particularly those from posh neighbourhoods such as Clifton, waxed eloquent about the corruption charges against her and refused to accept her death as a national tragedy.
“They are making a martyr out of a woman who robbed the country blind,” said a 26-year old Karachiite who did not want to be named. “Frankly, I am indifferent to her death.”
As police set up roadblocks across the city’s main roads in preparation for violence on New Year’s Eve, a few dogged partygoers were still working out their evening plans, oblivious of the impact of the past few days on most of the city’s residents.
Prices of basic necessities such as eggs, wheat flour and vegetables skyrocketed as mob violence hindered the supply of produce.
But by yesterday a semblance of order had returned to Karachi as shops, banks and gas stations reopened.
“We have this feeling that we are immune to how the common man suffers and what happens to him,” said Rafique Malik, who works in Toronto and was in Karachi visiting family and friends.
“We just want to preserve that system,” Malik said.
For most Pakistanis, however, Bhutto’s death came as a shock.
“She was the voice of the people and she was the voice of the elite,” said a member of the Women’s Action Forum, the non-profit group that organized the candlelight vigil.
“She was against militancy and extremism and she wanted to bring back light to Pakistan.”
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