From Benazir Bhutto to Salman Taseer : And the hunger for power goes on

The title of this article should really read “From Liaquat Ali Khan to Salman Taseer”. Sitting in Governor of Punjab Mr. Salman Taseer has been shot  to death in Islamabad in broad daylight today. Another sad day in Pakistan’s long bloody history. Countless leaders have been slained since the first political murder, that of Liaquat Ali Khan, in Pakistan. Salman Taseer being the latest high profile victim in this long list. It puts a huge question mark, yet again, over the activities of Pakistan’s law enforcement as well as security agencies. It goes without saying that it happened in the capital of the country, a small town, where police check posts seem more in number than there are streets. And, the incident reminds us of the fact that if a sitting in Governer of a province is not safe on the streets, where does that put common citizens, in terms of security. Of course, most citizens in Pakistan have come to make themselves believe that this has nothing to do with them and that Mr. Taseer had it coming for him, just like every other politician in Pakistan. Everyone in Pakistan has accepted it as a norm that Politics must come with a price, and in most cases, that price is your life. So, to them, there is nothing wrong with this picture. Of course, there will be condemnation, as always, from all sides, and the life will go on. Pakistanis believe in their hearts that you reap the benefits, legally or illegaly, of being a politician, knowing well enough that you might have to pay the price with your life one day. And when that day comes, nobody will care. So you shall see, that nobody will care about this murder, just like nobody has cared about any of the high profile murders, starting right from Liaquat Ali Khan. It is exactly that mindset of the common man, which is being manipulated by the hands involved in all these murders. They know they will disappear in thin air, as always, because nobody cares.

Going back to my eralier point, nobody will bother to ask the security agencies what they were doing since the murder of Benazir Bhutto. If they had any clue of this plot, and if not, how did they spend their time since then. This incident also makes you wonder if it could be an inside job. Although, it is too early to point fingers, but then again, in Pakistan, you never really get to find out what actually happened, so I assume it is safe to say, since we will never find out this time either, it is okay to point fingers already. (We never found out who the plotters were behind the murders of Liaquat Ali Khan, Ziaul Haq, Hakeem Mohammad Saeed, Benazir Bhutto to name only a few). Inside job, because murder of Benazir Bhutto, put Pakistan Peoples Party in power, and at a time when PPP’s Government has lost all its coalition partners in the Parliament, it needed another martyr, to get poeple’s sympathies, to make it through to the end of its term.

Whoever is the culprit behind this latest barbarian act in Pakistan, rest assured, we will never find it out. We never did. A new Governor will be sworn in pretty soon, and the life will go on. That new Governor, will never think for a moment before taking the oath, where would he be, when his time comes.