She was a force for positive change, an advocate for peace. And when the upcoming elections were held, they say, she would have run, won and ushered in a new age for Pakistan.
Minnesota State University has nearly 500 international students, and the contingent from Pakistan is among the larger ones. The assassination of former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto and the unrest that has followed have prompted many of the Pakistani students to constantly monitor developments.
Most international students remain on campus during the long break between fall and spring semesters. Pakistani students say it is difficult to sit half a world away and passively watch televised reports of events in their homeland.
“It seems like a great loss for the country,” said Rehan Khan, a finance major from Karachi, Pakistan. “ She’s been a very great leader. She worked hard to make progress.”
Khan said it was difficult to hear of Bhutto’s assassination. But almost worse, he said, is the mayhem that followed.
“It really feels bad. We always worry about our families. Innocent people are getting killed,” he said. TV news reports all day Friday showed images of burning trains and train stations, people fighting, people weeping. Khan said he heard other reports of banks being robbed. He regrets the madness that has transpired in his country.
“We lost a good personality for Pakistan, but it doesn’t mean you have (do that),” Khan said. “ This is not an appropriate action.”
Kamran Ali Changezi, an accounting major from Abbottabad, Pakistan, said a friend woke him up moments after word spread around the world of Bhutto’s death.
He said his family lives in a peaceful town north of the Pakistan capital, and the rioting shown on CNN hasn’t taken place near his family.
But he’s still concerned about his homeland.
“I’m kind of worried about Pakistan right now. They’ve burned a lot of stuff, and there is instability,” Changezi said. “(Bhutto) was like a symbol of democracy. She was an educated leader, and a good impression of Pakistan. She was a good ambassador, and she would have won. She was the most popular.”
Changezi has spent the last 48 hours monitoring BBC and CNN, and checking various Web sites that offer video reports.
He says he’s heard many conflicting reports about how Bhutto died and who was responsible for the attack that killed her. But he says he’s waiting for the full truth to come out and believes that will happen eventually.
He’s also worried about whether Pakistan can recover from what appears to be a lot of people not working while rioting takes place.
“Her assassination was a big thing,” he said. “But right now a lot of people, her supporters, are destroying property ... You can grieve her loss and work at the same time.”
Said Khan, “This is a very critical point for Pakistan ... Whatever happened, it is not good for one party, it is not good for the whole country.”
For more Free Press news go to www.mankatofreepress.com.
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