Harish Palaniappan's

Pakistan People's Party leader Benazir Bhutto is assasinated at the prime of her attempts to bring back democracy in Pakistan. Some fingers point to the Pakistan president, some point to other villains, and as usual one or more terrorist organizations make claims.

At the end of the day, there are a million questions in everyone's mind... that which news channels immediately take over and try to poll their viewers with.. has all the political attempts made so far, to be gone in pieces now, should all people's hopes be re-lifted back again, and what's left of Pakistan.. is it democracy or terrorism, etc.,

Like they say, destruction is easy.. while construction is difficult. Stopping a democracy from happening is easy, but constructing it from blood and sacrifice.. with normal people.. trying to make them courageous .. and all is a lot of work.

It takes a lot of courage to be in Politics.. a little more courage to be a good politician... and much much more to be a politician who is trying to usher in change for the sake of the people.

But, like in cocktails, like in cooking, like in scientific decisions like "optimal" temperature .. and things like that... there should be a proper mix of courage and politics. Too little of either is unpleasant, too much of either is disastrous.

Like film stars get carried away at the prime of their success sometimes, and start doing/saying stupid things... politicians also start discounting important stuff like security, trusting the proper aides, etc., at the prime of their political campaigns.

Nothing big can happen fast if there are no risks taken or sacrifices made.. but some sacrifices can be avoided if people can share their responsibilities with the highest importance, when they are working together.

Terrorists or hard-core assassins don't fear death.
Some politicians too don't..

Politicians have a commitment.. their courage is tied to, and holds up the people's strength and the democracy's courage in their acts, speeches and decisions. So, When a politician goes over-board in being courageous without the neccessary security wrap around him/her, the assassins who see a target, take down the courageous politician.

For the bombs and bullets, its just flesh to push through, not the courage.
For the assassins, its a soft target without proper security wrapper to push through, not the huge collective strength of people around.

And so the politician however strong and courageous, goes down, just as flesh and blood vessels give up.. and just as some blasts cut through their muscles dis-membering them.

For the people around, its all their courage coming down, its a majority of their democracy's hopes going down, and not just another politician or their flesh and blood giving away.

It is disturbing to regroup all people and their courage after such killings. Some people run for life not ever to return, some shift loyalties to safer but lesser commitments for the fear of death, and the rest who are left.. just feel like they are back in square one.

"Benazir Bhutto has become a victim of her own courage", aptly says one of her family members. Now that she has passed away leaving many open questions and a million new questions for the others to answer.. and for the TV channels to poll viewers with... Pakistan has to move on.

And, may in the future, people who take such important committments, who are trusted for their decisions by a large number of people, take more precautions about their existence to move things forward, and remember that even great warriors of the past, wore armours or had a security wrap around them however good they were in fighting enemies and making decisions.

Related Links:
Daily mail: Benazir bhutto assasinated
Wikipedia: Benazir Bhutto