I have a group of 13 clients coming in from the US, Mexico and France, early-Jan, on a Learning Journey .  Naturally, they have concerns after yesterday’s events, with a lot of the western media talking of Al Qaeda and unrest and potential violence in the entire region.  I hope Pakistan stays calm and looks to a better tomorrow, once the grieving is over.

Sharing my perspective, from India … it’s what I sent them:

“Benazir Bhutto’s assassination has been a real shock to us.  It’s really sad because democracy will have to wait again, and Pakistan will take a while to get back on the road to democracy. In India, the response has been one of shock and disappointment that the democratic process which is also seen as a way to get peace in the region, has been set back. India is a strong and resilient country and we don’t expect a backlash here in any way.  This is being seen as purely an internal affair for Pakistan, with no role of India in the assassination. The only alert we have on here today is at the Indo-Pak border  - which is far away from where the group is going. Indian media is strongly suggesting that it was Musharraf’s govt and the Military that did this, based on interviews with Human Rights Groups, Supreme Court Lawyers and other folks from Pakistan, and not really the extremists (although the military in Pakistan is seen as fundamentalist and extremist) or Al Qaida, as the Western media and Mr. Musharraf’s government have been projecting.  In fact, as I write this note, on the morning after the assassination, Indian TV is back to regular programming and we are now running some retrospectives on Ms. Bhutto. It’s off the ‘breaking news’ charts, and there have been absolutely no reports of any tension or violence in India, as a result of this tragic event.

For more news from the region, check these links:
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/default.aspx
http://timesnow.tv/

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