Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Victim of terror

The unholy nexus between those at the helm of affairs in Pakistan and terrorists has taken its toll. Benazir was fully aware of the threat to her life. As a leader of the masses, she did not pay heed to the threat and stood firm in her resolve to restore democracy in her country. What she did not, but wanted to, achieve in her lifetime, she may in her death.

The Daughter of the East will go down in history as one who stood for the common man of Pakistan and a potential the world was not fully able to make use of.

Sajid Abdul Rezak,

Bangalore

Pakistani leaders deliberately kept the army powerful as it suited their anti-India policies. The same army aided and abetted cross-border terrorism and exported terrorists to Afghanistan with U.S. aid during the Cold War years. Pakistan has remained a safe haven for terrorists through the years. It has been proved more than once that the leaders of Pakistan were short-sighted. Civilian leaders who have tried to uphold democracy have been executed, assassinated or persecuted. Pakistan is a victim of its own policies and priorities.

Velavartipati Vachaspati,

Ongole

Benazir’s killing reminds one of her infamous azadi, azadi, goli chalao exhortation to Kashmiris in 1990. One who provoked violence has unfortunately fallen prey to it.

Vikas Mudgil,

Gurgaon

It was no wonder that Benazir met the same fate as that of Indira Gandhi who was a victim of the terror she bred for political gains. Benazir’s 1990 speech demanding the merger of Kashmir with Pakistan at any cost was widely publicised. She fostered terrorism, which ultimately swallowed her. Terrorism, a disobedient servant, devours its masters.

Arvind D. Tapkire,

Mumbai

The article “Implications of Benazir’s assassination” (Dec. 29) is a brilliant analysis of the realities that characterise South Asia. It has seen much mayhem due to religious extremism and the tendency to interpret history in mutually antagonistic terms.

Our future lies in reinforcing our composite culture, developing a consensual approach to solving our problems, burying our irredentist ambitions, and resolving to keep our hands off one another’s insurgent groups.

Maqbool Ahmed Siraj,
Bangalore

Pakistan, an unfortunate country, has been under a long spell of dictatorship and become a hotbed of tyranny, oppression, and instability. The need of the hour is to revive democracy which has suffered a death blow in the wake of Benazir’s assassination. As the article rightly states, Islam is not incompatible with democracy. India, where Muslims live with honour and quiet dignity, will always remain largely immune to terrorism.

Thehseen Zakir,

Kochi

The U.S. is indirectly responsible for the chaotic, anarchic and traumatic conditions in Pakistan, which led to Benazir’s assassination. It used Pakistan’s military dictators to serve its own geopolitical interests in South Asia. It did not stop them from encouraging fundamentalism to remain in power as they did not have the political mandate to rule the country.

The U.S. should stop using Pakistan as its pawn in its so-called “war on terror,” which is largely its own creation. And the Pakistani leaders must sink their differences and evolve a strategy for peaceful transition to democracy.

Satwant Kaur,

Hoshiarpur

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