Has the assassination of Benezir Bhutto radically changed the political dynamics in Pakistan? Some may think so. The Bhutto dynasty continues as though it were a royal succession. He eldest son who now proudly calls himself Bilawal Bhutto Zadari now wears the crown. A lad of 19 he, so his father will act as regent until his son has finished his schooling at Oxford, and with some seasoning in the rough and touble school of politics, will assume his rightful title as chairman of the Pakistan People's Party and feudal landlord in Sind.
The PPP have decided to press on for elections on 8 January 2008, in the belief that Benezir Bhutto's murder has raised the temperature of the Pakistani masses, and that the moment is right to strike to win, thereby catapulting the party again into the cat bird's seat of power.
Which may very well come to pass, yet the PPP lacks a charismatic leader, on one hand, and any reform in the political lay of the land must needs the tacit conscent of the military. And that remains problemmatic.
Pakistan is a country cleared for civil and religious war similar in a way that makes one think of the Algeria of 1992. Religious extremism has reached a new height which the secular forces are not stronger enough to openly oppose, and what's more the religious fanatics have the backing of powerful forces within the military and the intelligence services which serve two objectives: the never ending guerrilla warfare against India for the control of Kashmir Jammu, and the preserve that they think is rightfully theirs in Afghanistan.
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