By-Two Kaapi in an oilfield

Benazir Bhutto was killed today.
Mom called me out as she saw it first on TV.
She was shell shocked. I was not.

As an Indian, you are expected to be conversant with the politics of our immediate Western neighbor. As a school/college kid, I matched those expectations. To most of us and the International media, Benazir was the face of Pakistani democracy. The face of reforms. The face of a peaceful Pakistan.

All this changed when I went to work in the Middle East. I got to work with a lot of Pakistanis, many of them coming from the best engineering colleges in Pakistan. It was during discussions with these folks on Pakistani politics that I realized that all of us are brought up with an entirely contrasting view, compared to that of the native Pakistanis.

The fact that Bhutto laundered billions out of Pakistan bears no meaning to us. It does to the people of Pakistan.
The fact that Musharraf took over Pakistan in a coup was heinous to us. It was joy to the people of Pakistan.
The fact that Musharraf, actually did quite some good regarding development is unknown to us. It's satisfaction to the people of Pakistan.
The fact that Musharraf was a military leader unnerved most of us. It wasn't new to the people of Pakistan.

At the end of the day, the people of Pakistan loved Musharraf. The key word is 'loved'. As far as what I hear from a few intellectual Pakistani folks, they no longer love him. But they don't love Bhutto either. Even today, they would prefer Musharraf over her. To them, the glorification of Bhutto in the international media, the promise of democracy doesn't matter. What matters is development. Economic. Social. (Isn't that the same everywhere in the world?!)

On a side note, our discussions had ended with a mutual agreement that Bhutto will die any day this year.
It's a pity that she was killed.
May peace be upon her soul.