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By JIM BARON LINCOLN -- Pakistan was already in a “very bad political situation” before Thursday’s assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who returned from exile earlier this year to head the opposition to current President Pervez Musharraf, said Pakistani native and current Manville resident Amin Malik.
Now after seeing televised accounts of increased protests and violence throughout the day he is afraid “it is getting out of hand. Without marshal law, it will be a very chaotic situation, maybe civil war.” Malik, who came to America in 1978 and operated markets, first on Power Road in Pawtucket and later on Main Street in Woonsocket, before retiring several years ago, was back in his home country at the beginning of the year, hoping to divide family property among his siblings after the death of his father. But after spending January and February making no progress because the courts had all but stopped functioning, Malik gave up and returned in March. “Nobody was working. Everybody was demonstrating.” Any kind of official business, Malik came to believe, would have to wait until a new government was established. That was scheduled for early next month, but with the assassination and the new civil disorder, he said he doesn’t see that happening anytime soon. “You can’t predict anything right now,” he said. During his recent visit, Malik said, “I was very much disgusted by what I saw. The common person is suffering all the time, trying to make two ends meet, trying to put food on the table. They don’t have any rights or a fair share in government. Their rights have been taken away, unless you know somebody. “After 60 years of independence,” Malik said, “the feudal system is still there” Despite the disfavor in which the Musharraf government is held, Malik noted that Bhutto herself had been charged with corruption in the past and Nawaz Sharif, another former prime minister and leader of a rival opposition party, had been barred from contesting the election because of charges of corruption.“Nobody is clean-handed,” Malik said. Rep. Patrick Kennedy was scheduled to have dinner with Bhutto Thursday as part of a U.S. delegation that included Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican and the U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson. They instead laid flowers beneath her photo at her campaign headquarters, before cutting short their trip at the advice of the U.S. State Department because of the violence in the wake of Bhutto’s killing. The three had met with Musharraf earlier in the day as well as with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. "You could really feel the tragedy of this loss because Bhutto really represented hope here for so many people," Kennedy told the Associated Press, adding that turmoil was engulfing much of the country.“Her death really dashed the hope of many here in Pakistan and that's why there's so much disillusionment and anger being vented through these protests that are lighting up the sky tonight as people set fires all over the countryside," the Rhode Island Democrat said. “Benazir Bhutto was a courageous woman and an inspiration to many,” said Sen. Jack Reed, a Democratic member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “She took great personal risk to try and bring about democratic change in Pakistan. Her death has cast great uncertainty over the future of Pakistan. “Ms. Bhuttos’ assassination is a terrible reminder that Pakistan remains arguably the most dangerous arena where international terror cells are currently operating. This is a nuclear-armed nation on the brink. President Bush should do everything he can to promote stability in Pakistan and prevent the situation from further unraveling. There also needs to be a renewed effort to crack down on the radical militants who are fueling the violence in the region and deny safe haven to terrorists based in Pakistan.” “I am not very optimistic” about the situation in Pakistan, Malik told The Times. “The people are still illiterate, they are emotional, very volatile. They will go after slogans without thinking. They are easily exploited by politicians.” “I hope we get some good news in the coming days,” he said. |
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