BENAZIR BHUTTO DEAD AND BURIED

And then there were only two ...

Try and access Mrs Bhutto's own website and you'll discover within seconds that you can't access it, the reason being pretty obvious, since she was murdered last Thursday in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Only 54 years old and mother of three. One of the few ladies in this part of the world, the other one being Indira Gandhi, who got hold of the most powerful positions in what really is a man's world.

Bhutto came from a wealthy, influential family. Having studied at both Harvard and Oxford, she definitely did not qualify as a rich idiot, far from it. A very shrewd politician is probably more like it. Yet unfortunately Pakistan's only (former) female prime minister was caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Or so they say, because one should not forget that we are talking about a highly conservative society where you have forces at work, both in the military and in certain Islamic circles, that are not exactly thrilled at the idea of being represented by a woman. And that, my dears, Mrs Bhuto was.

So where does the brutal assassination of Mrs Bhutto leave Pakistan? Well, there is of course Mr Dictator himself, a.k.a. general Mush. Or perhaps one should consider Nawaz Sharif as the answer to Pakistan's prayers. Yes, the man who narrowly escaped a death sentence in 2000 after having been found guilty on charges of hijacking and terrorism. Yesterday Sharif proved a bit too quick to cash in on Benazir's death. You tell me, who would be the lesser of two evils?