A rude awakening: the assassination of Benazir Bhutto

There comes a time when even the most determined fence sitter has to opine (at least from the confines of the erstwhile comfortable armchair). The assassination of Benazir Bhutto has been just that trigger for me. For someone who has determinedly stayed away from forming lasting opinions on the polity of this sub continent, and who has shown a merely cursory interest in the governing of our hostile neighbour, this is a major step forward.

The fact that she follows an illustrious line of the various leaders from this sub continent that have actually paid with their lives- nay their very blood— for standing up and leading from the front is the probable cause for the rather abrupt awakening from the stupor. There has been a blood bath from the various corners of the subcontinent and the islands that surround it over the past few decades – and it has been a constant war for me to keep abreast of the gory newsbytes.

Born in a land where democracy rules rather despotically—where the likes of a Modi and a Gandhi rub shoulders as icons of their times — I have found it hard going, if not ethically impossible, to form a lasting or singular impression of the body politic.

This to me is no longer about political ideologies or differing agendas. This is an unleashing of a vile form of controlling terror that actually caused me to immediately check on my far flung family to ensure that they are all in safe places — away from the potential carnage that a misplaced backlash against this demonic act could unleash on the unsuspecting masses in the not so little pockets of minority strongholds across this country.

The disturbing thought that the call of a muezzin punctuating the evening could be misused to unleash a torrent of hatred is a thought at the back of my mind. Although, I must admit (in their favour, of course—admitting that they have never owed me an explanation for living their lives according due respect to a different ideology and ethos) that none of the Muslims I have known in my life so far have ever given me cause to worry in terms of their humanitarian values (Sabeels and Khaleels of this world notwithstanding).

The unleashing of the terror of death at a political rally is not news. Not where I come from. Nor is it news that terror is being used as a weapon by forces that seek control at any cost-- completely oblivious to the fact that they are wielding a double-edged sword in the hands of a fickle fiend. The current political climate in the subcontinent has seen enough of these mangled deaths to remain unruffled as another spasm takes hold.

The condolence messages are pouring in from across the world even as Bhutto’s political rivals point fingers at each other over the bloody wreckage.

The toll since her return is over a hundred and fifty lives. This should be enough to awaken the powers that be to the bloody dividends of the monster they themselves have created and unleashed into their very homes.

For those that live by the sword, they say, shall die by the sword.

When is it ever going to be enough? And who is it who shall decide?