Did Benazir Bhutto know she was America’s lackey?

Posted on December 30, 2007 by hijabman

This post is an ongoing series posts by Zosha & Her husband Angrez. They are currently traveling through Pakistan.

Day three of “mourning.” We have such cabin fever! But my Sindhi and Urdu both improve by leaps and bounds with each day. I’m now speaking to Auntie in Sindhi and am working on reading a book by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s prison superintendent in Urdu with Angrez at night. We’re making the best of not getting out much. Auntie refers to my Sindhi “coming out” as “khush khabri”—she’s clearly pleased with my progress…I have to admit I’m a little surprised myself to be recovering so much so quickly.

There are so few women on the streets—I really think women get the worst of all of this. They’re not responsible for the drama, they aren’t burning cars or beating on thier heads for the cameras, and yet they end up stuck at home for days as a result… I’m pretty sure I could adjust to just about everything except that about Pakistan. Angrez and I talk frequently about a brain-drain reversing move, maybe to Islamabad, as we both grow increasingly frustrated with the U.S.‘s hyperpower insanity. I’m reading a fantastic book about the role of multiculturalism and tolerance in empire and fall of empire by Amy Chau. I think it’s true that the U.S. had an unprecedented opportunity to redefine the role of world leadership after the Cold War and has instead chosen the tried and true path of empire expansion.

Speaking of which, the…erm…inconsistencies in the Pakistan government’s story(ies) about Benazir’s assasination have us all speculating about the real players and motives involved. In the interests of full disclosure, I wasn’t a huge fan of Benazir’s return to begin with. I found it all too suspicious in the context of the sudden American media spotlight on Pakistan—since when is Pakistan front page news for two months in the U.S.? Since when does the U.S. have a problem with military dictatorships? After all, they installed at least the two most recent Pakistani ones. Suddenly, America wants to “build democracy” in Pakistan? Pulleeeze. And then when Benazir had a spot on NPR shortly before returning to Pakistan, I was convinced. If Musharraf wouldn’t give Benazir a leg up, certainly the U.S. was helping her to create a liberation narrative and distribute it to the American public. I’m just trying to figure out if Benazir herself knew that she was America’s lackey. I wonder if she really believed that America’s interest in keeping her safe outweighed America’s interest in a destablized Pakistan.

Why does America want a destablized Pakistan? No offense, but-duh. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to look at a map and notice that every (Muslim) country between Israel and India has been described by the American media as a threat to democracy and a hotbed of terrorism in the past year. Pakistan is just the latest among them to be painted as a country undeserving of its sovereignty.

Not to be too ideological about it, certain truths must be told: Pakistan is woefully mismanaged. In this “international city” of Karachi, there are kids playing in the mounds of trash on the streets, pollution everywhere, little or no public health or safety regulation. The gap between rich and poor is almost unimaginable. But does that justify America raping Pakistan the way it’s raping Iraq under Blackwater guard? No one here wants U.S. imperialism and that has nothing to do with terror or fanaticism. Why don’t Americans seem to get that? Where is the American left when you need it? American liberals seem to be licking up the GOP’s empirical ambitions like they’re chocolate sauce. What was unacceptable in South and Central America is apple pie in the Muslim world. Can you tell I’m disillusioned?

We’re hoping things settle out enough for us to see more of Karachi tomorrow, maybe start moving around the day after. I just sorted out that it’s December 30th—-here’s to persistent prayer for peace in the new year. That’s my resolution: persistent, intimate, relentless prayer.