Benazir Bhutto assassinated

It is a sad day for all who love democracy. The extremely intelligent, lovely and very committed Benazir Bhutto, 54, was shot and killed as she rode in her armoured vehicle departing a rally in Rawalpindi. The poor young man who shot her, a young man apparently in his twenties, blew himself up after shooting the two-time and future Pakistani Prime Minister, killing approximately another 20 people. Ms. Bhutto was a devout Muslim. Muslims, according to the fathers of the Second Vatican Council, "adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men;" and who "take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin Mother; at times they even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the day of judgment when God will render their deserts to all those who have been raised up from the dead. Finally, they value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting" (Nostra Aetate par. 3).

A friend of hers, Mark Siegel, who was working with Ms. Bhutto on a book at the time of her death, which was to be entitled Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West, remembers these words of Benazir Bhutto: "God has a plan for me and God will protect me. If there is a plan that I cannot fulfull my destiny to restore democracy to Pakistan, then that, too, is God's will. I am in God's hands". You can listen to Mark Siegel's remembrance on NPR.org.