Pakistan’s Professional Widower
By Nail Em Up on January 2, 2010 at 12:58 PM in Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Pakistan
The professional widow serves a particular role in American life. Generally these women were the wives of prominent political figures who were assassinated or came to some sort of tragic end. The group includes Ethel Kennedy, widow of Bobby Kennedy; Betty Shabazz, widow of Malcom X; and Coretta Scott King, widow of Martin Luther King Jr. The circumstances of their stoic solitude confers on them a special status – the partners of martyred heroes. A woman is expelled from this club if she chooses to remarry. Witness the furious public backlash against John F. Kennedy’s widow Jacqueline when she joined with Artistotle Onassis.
Fair? Probably not. But that’s how perception works. And sometimes it can work to the advantage of the family member left behind.
In a recent op-ed in Wall Street Journal penned by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari entitled “Democracy is the Greatest Revenge,” the opening five paragraphs were not about his accomplishments as President or even about Pakistan. Instead they focused on Benazir Bhutto, whose death is still mourned the world over.
On this occasion it’s probably humane to cut Zardari some slack. The piece was published on the two year anniversary of her assassination. The man has a right to mourn.
But Zardari is no Ethel Kennedy or Coretta Scott King. He is the president of a country riddled with serious problems – violence, poverty, illiteracy, a growing and increasingly deadly terrorist threat, a media that proudly display their cynicism and fondness for intrigue, a military and security apparatus lurking ominously behind the scenes, mistrust of the West, ongoing sugar and power shortages, the perpetuation of feudal resentments…the list is long and daunting. None of the distinguished ladies mentioned at the beginning of this piece were ever tasked with such an awesome responsibility.
When Zardari took office some suggested that he was merely a regent keeping the seat warm until the dauphin Bilawal came of age. Those days are over. Zardari runs one of the most scrutinized and troubled countries in the world.
We mourn Benazir. No one begrudges Zardari his eulogy. But the time is past for the President of Pakistan to keep looking back. He has the present stewardship and future of his country to think of.
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This piece was originally posted at : ThePakistanUpdate.com.
by Ronald Scott
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