Ali Nawaz Memon traded e-mails with Benazir Bhutto only days ago, the two mulling over how to reconcile Pakistan’s patchwork of political parties and create a unified government once the opposition leader took power.
Now, instead of consulting on a new government, the Gaithersburg resident and senior vice president of Pakistan People’s Party in the U.S. finds himself mourning his longtime friend. Bhutto was assassinated at a campaign rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on Thursday, two weeks before a national election that could have vaulted her to prime minister for the third time.
“We were working on developing what she would do on the first day of becoming prime minister, what she would do within 30 days and what she would do within 60 days,” Memon said. “All those hopes and aspirations seem to have gone now.”
He was one of many Pakistani-Americans across the region stunned and devastated by the news of Bhutto’s death. Memon compared the reaction in his native country to that of the U.S. after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. His wife, Razia, compared her to Princess Diana.
Bhutto, daughter of executed Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, had returned to the country in October from a self-imposed exile to stage a political comeback. She was a controversial figure, however, dogged throughout her political career by corruption charges aimed at her and her husband. Jamshed Uppal, chairman of the board of trustees of the Pakistani American Association of Greater Washington, said not everyone in his community supported Bhutto politically, but all condemned the assassination “very deeply.”
“Everybody I’ve talked to so farfeels this is a very cowardly, shameful act,” he said. “It sets us back quite a bit.”
The killing was also roundly denounced by U.S. and Pakistani officials. Pakistani Ambassador Mahmud Ali Durrani, in a news conference Thursday, blamed the attack on “extremist terrorists” and promised an investigation.
“Our people are resilient, tough, and, God willing, we will come out of this crisis, too, with flying colors,” he said.
