SANSAD
South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy
Suite 435, 205 - 329 North Road, Coquitlam, BC, Canada. V3K 6Z8
phone : (604) 420-2972; FAX: (604) 420-2970
Electronic mail : sansad@sansad.org
[Incorporated in British Columbia under the Society Act as a Non-Profit Society, # S-31797]
December 31, 2007
News Release
On Benazir Bhutto Assassination & the Political Aftermath
South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD) utterly deplores the murder of Benazir Bhutto and many of her supporters after their election rally in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007.
We join with the family of the deceased, the many members and supporters of Pakistan People's Party, and indeed the entire people of Pakistan in grieving for this terrible loss to their families, their political party, and the nation.
The murder of Benazir Bhutto is undoubtedly an attempt to sabotage the possibility of democracy and rule of law in Pakistan. Benazir Bhutto stepped into a US-sponsored process of transition to democracy from the de facto rule of the military that was compromised by this very sponsorship as well as by the restrictions of freedom and the suspension of proper judicial authority that prevailed. Yet, even these limited conditions within which Ms Bhutto courageously campaigned, offered the people of Pakistan the hope of democracy and the rule of law that they have passionately sought for many years.
The murder of Ms Bhutto will no doubt be used in support of an argument to continue de jure or de facto military rule in Pakistan as the only way to contain "terrorism." Already, the immediate finger pointing by the Government of Pakistan to Baitullah Mehsud and al-Qaeda (rejected by Mehsud) along with its denial that Ms Bhutto was killed by assassin's bullets, point in the direction of the government covering up its responsibility. It is only one more step from here to the argument that only the present regime can fight the West's proxy war in Pakistan and defend the Pakistan people from "terror."
The grief and outrage of the millions of supporters of Benazir Bhutto have found understandable vent in widespread acts of violence across Pakistan and have caused the unfortunate loss of many more lives. The loss of its leader must leave the PPP shocked and disoriented. But we hope that the PPP will reestablish its order and commitment to peace and reengage in the democratic struggle with a passion inflamed by their grief. We shall hope that this enormous loss to the people of Pakistan will become a means of bringing them together in the struggle for peace, democracy, the rule of law, and a genuinely independent polity free from Western domination and interference.
We demand that elections date and process be decided by the consensus of the political parties in Pakistan; and not by the presidential choice, or by what the USA prescribes..
We further support the demand of the people in Pakistan that a judicial inquiry commission led by three judges and headed by the deposed Chief Justice Iftikar Choudhury be formed to investigate the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
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The Board of Directors
SANSAD
