Statement on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto

//WORLD REVOLUTION // 2008-01-01

On Thursday 27th December in a devastating attack the leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated. At a mass rally of the PPP Bhutto was waving out of the sunroof of her car and was shot twice in the chest and in the neck. Seconds later a bomb exploded killing at least 16 civilians. Bhutto later died in hospital due to these injuries.

All those who wish to see an end to the Musharraf military dictatorship should condemn the attack. It is likely to be used as an excuse for Musharraf and the Pakistani military to step up attacks on those who oppose him, He will also use it to legitmise his support for the ironically named ‘war on terror’, which, perversely, has done nothing but aide the recruiment prospects for fanatical religious organisations.

At the same time, this attack must not stop revolutionaries from being clear about their criticism of the pro-imperialist politics of the PPP. The PPP is part of the problem, not the solution, in Pakistan. Throughout this year, it has gone out of its way to derail the struggle for democracy, by leading workers and poor into a deal with the dictator Musharraf.

The PPP is a fiefdom of the Bhutto family – whose leadership is totally unaccountable to party members. Already the party leaders have announced that Benezir Bhutto’s son will inherit the party leadership. Bhutto was a corrupt, capitalist politician who slavishly supported the imperialists in London and Washington. One of the biggest crimes of this attack is that it risks allowing such a figure to become perceived as a martyr for democracy.

In her two periods as Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was the subject of many different money laundering allegations. Her husband, who had a key political role despite not being elected, was awarded the nickname of “10% Bhutto” – because this was the amount it was rumoured to have creamed off the Pakistani treasury.

In order to get back on the gravy train, Benazir Bhutto had long discussions with the military dictatorship on the possibility of a power sharing deal with Musharraf. She even agreed to participate in the elections that had only been called after Musharraf dismissed the judiciary (they were set to declare his re-election as president for another five years while still head of the military illegal).

Benezir Bhutto was not a supporter of the Pakistani people. She served the interests of a tiny and wealthy elite in Pakistan.

At the same time, the PPP still represented a challenge to the increasingly insecure dictatorship of Musharraf and her assassination plays into the hands of the regime. The finger has quickly been pointed at Al-Quaeda. But the question of whether the attack was undertaken by rogue elements of the security services is being asked everywhere. The masses demonstrations on the streets rightly blame Musharraf, the military dictatorship and the pro-Musharraf party the PML-Q for stifling democracy and for breeding terrorists.

The recent news of this attack has caused shockwaves across the world. The PPP with its cross class populism and its reliance on millionaire leaders such as Benazir Bhutto does not have the strategy for a free and equal Pakistan. The organised working class in Pakistan are key. We must organise these workers along with youth and students to form a revolutionary party. We need fight to use the power of working class organisation, strike action and rank and file committees, organised to build a militant struggle against Musharraf that can bring him down and fight to turn the struggle to a socialist revolution – that can liberate Pakistan and sabotage the plans of his imperialist bankrollers in Washington and London.