Word: bhuttoã
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...mourning period of her death comes to a close, we should take a closer look at her past. Recent eulogies following her tragic death have missed these sub-narratives. Newspaper coverage in the West has emphasized Bhutto??€™s years at Harvard and Oxford, portraying her as a modern liberal woman who brought Western values back to her chaotic, unruly country. This image is Orientalism at its worst—the validation of a third world leader merely because she was ‘brought up the right...
...other problem with this rosy image is that it obscures Bhutto??€™s record. Her political power was almost completely derived from her father, Pakistan’s only genuinely popular democrat. She failed to capitalize on even this platform...
During her first premiership, she failed to pass a single piece of major legislation. At the same time, the anti-corruption organization Transparency International named Bhutto??€™s Pakistan one of the three most corrupt countries in the world. Her government was accused by Amnesty International of having a long record of torture, extra judicial custody and killings. She appointed herself head of her political party, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), for life, and her feuding brother was shot dead under highly suspicious circumstances. Her brother’s wife and daughter all held Bhutto responsible...
...feudal manner of Bhutto??€™s succession lends further suspicion of the kind of democracy that she espoused. Her son, Bilawal Bhutto, is a 19-year-old Oxford student who has never lived in Pakistan. Yet he has been appointed heir to the Bhutto throne as the new chairman of the PPP. But since he is too young, his controversial father, Asif Zardari, will act as regent, making decisions while the chairman grows up. The actual top candidate for the forthcoming elections is another person, party loyalist Maqdoom Amin Fahim...
...interests of the United States. But given her track record, it is naïve to think that Bhutto would have quickly and single-handedly turned Pakistan around. Pakistan is a country in extremely dire straits, and given its tradition of corruption, nepotism, and violence—of which Bhutto??€™s assassination and the ascension of her 19-year-old son and husband to the leadership of her Pakistan Peoples Party is just the latest chapter—there is no clear path forward. Bhutto was, at most, the best of several mediocre alternatives. Her assassination should...