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Last update - 23:45 12/01/2008 Bhutto: the failure and the hope By Raquel Evita Saraswati Tags: Pakistan The assassination of Benazir Bhutto undoubtedly marks a turning point for Pakistan and the world at large. Questions about Pakistan's future emanate from far beyond its borders, as Pakistanis and the world question the already strained chances for stability in the region. From the moment mobs took to the streets of Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and other areas of Pakistan following news of Bhutto's death - optimism has been hard to come by. As the shock of Bhutto's passing subsides, new questions emerge. What does her passing mean for Muslim women? Did she, in fact, represent the new female model in the Muslim world? As a young Muslim woman, I respectfully say that if Benazir Bhutto represented the new female model in the Muslim world, we - women, Muslims and the world at large - have terribly low expectations. We, and democracy, are also in serious trouble. Advertisement I am certain that many of Bhutto's supporters will find my remarks in poor taste. However, if she herself was sincere in her dedication to democracy, she would defend my exercise of the best democracy has to offer - dissent. My comments are not meant to disregard the undeniable - that Bhutto's position as the Muslim world's first female prime minister defied the tribal culture in which she lived. Her leadership, however, did not. Bhutto's legacy certainly attests to her determination and resilience. What her leadership did not demonstrate, however, was something more than mere lip service when it came to issues of human rights. For all of her grandiose statements - for example, that she saw "all of Pakistan's children" as her very own - she did precious little to protect Pakistan's daughters. In fact, she did precious little that had a positive impact on the plight of Muslim women in general. Bhutto's failure to even attempt to repeal the Hudood Ordinances, Pakistan's laws that make no distinction between rape and adultery, is one example of her complicity with the worst of her countrymen. Under the Hudood Ordinances, a rape victim is not only punished, but is often killed - to defend her community's honor. If Bhutto saw each of Pakistan's children as her own, would she have been so complacent about the murder of her daughters? Her lack of action to protect women - and to counter the Taliban's rise to power in Afghanistan during the 1990s - certainly discredits her claim that her leadership presented "an alternative vision of freedom, human rights, modernity compatible with religion as well as progress and prosperity," as she said in an interview with Asia Times Online, in 2004. Bhutto's leadership was profoundly flawed. Her stated ideas and values, however, indicated true promise. If Muslims - and believers in democracy the world over - can relinquish reverence for Bhutto as a woman, and instead live according to those stated ideals - that democracy is necessary for peace, and that you can "kill a man, but not an idea" - then we have a fighting chance at change. Muslim women have a particularly important role to play, as we have the least to lose and the most to gain by fighting tribalism head-on. After all, it is women who bear the brunt of the evils Bhutto chose not to confront, and thus it is women who must take the initiatives she did not. We even have the backing of the Koran, which states: "God does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves" (13:11). This is a call to action and a command against passivity. Could Benazir Bhutto have transformed Pakistan into a robust, healthy democracy? We'll never know. What we do know is that she claimed a viable democracy to be one of her many aims for Pakistan. And she was not the only one. Many Pakistanis have realized that investing in ideas - democracy, freedom of religion and expression - is a far more promising vehicle for change than investing all hope in one individual's voice. Ultimately, this work falls into the hands not only of reasonable Pakistanis, but of Muslims and non-Muslims worldwide. It is the responsibility of all of us to recognize that peace in the Muslim world - and thus global stability - is contingent upon us all. There is no reason why we should let Benazir Bhutto's last breath carry away with it the hope she had the potential to leave behind. Raquel Evita Saraswati (raquelevita@raquelevita.com) is an independent journalist living in the United States, a devout Muslim active in working for the reconciliation of culture with modernity. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Sex, lies and videotape 3 Kibbutz Ein Gedi residents suspected of filming themselves raping Danish tourists. Big brother is watching An IDF soldier has been jailed for posting sensitive photos on Facebook.   1.   Bhutto;the failure and the Hope 16:30  |  S.Siddiqi 13/01/08   2.   Bhutto: the failure and the hope 07:14  |  A. Leigh 24/04/08

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