The mob ruled yesterday in Karachi, the country’s industrial and financial hub, with angry protesters on the rampage, attacking vehicles, banks and looting shops. Having lived for most of my life in this sprawling metropolis, I had never seen the city in such a grip of fear.

I watched as people abandoned their cars and ran for safety. One young women and her elderly father cried hysterically as the crowd dragged them from their car in Clifton, one of Karachi’s upmarket districts, and set it ablaze. The situation was even wosre in other parts of the city.

Fearing for my own safety, I was forced to spend the night in the office of a local magazine and ventured home the following morning, after sunrise, on the motorbike of a friend. The scene was horrific, the streets littered with burnt vehicles and charred buildings.

The mob was back on the street soon, and with no one to stop them. Police and security officials had made themselves scarce. The city was completely paralysed. Airports and railway services were closed down. I had seen the city bleeding many times in the past, but it has never been like this.

Q&A: the murder of Benazir Bhutto

Times South Asia Correspondent asks who had most to gain from killing the Pakistan People's Party leader

Multimedia

• Video: Bhutto assassinated

• Bhutto: the background, legacy and life

• Pictures: death of Benazir Bhutto

BACKGROUND

• Pakistan in chaos as Benazir Bhutto assassinated

• Who killed Benazir Bhutto? Main suspects

• Obituary: Benazir Bhutto, 1953-2007

• Can democracy survive Bhutto killing?

Related Links

• Government blames al-Qaeda as Pakistan burns

• Courageous but an unreliable partner

• Pakistan on the brink

Just hours before Benazir Bhutto was assassinated I was invited to lunch at Karachi’s prestigious Sindh Club with a group investment bankers and stockbrokers. Most of them were educated in top British and American universities and worked with leading international financial companies. Despite the political turmoil that had gripped the country, they appeared full of confidence about the future. The stock market was booming, with a rising inflow of foreign funds.

But the upbeat mood turned to despair hours later as news of Benazir Bhutto’s death reached us. What was going to happen now, was the question everyone asked. The optimism evaporated in an instant. Over the years Pakistan has suffered from an exodus of young professionals to Europe and America in search of a brighter future. This trend is likely to accelerate amid intense uncertainty over the country’s future. The events of the past two days have stunned Pakistanis more than at any time in the past.

Never in Pakistan’s history has a political tragedy touched so many hearts. A country that has been so divided is today united in its grief. But this fleeting unity still betrays a vulnerability, that reflects the reality of a leaderless nation.

The widespread violence that has gripped the country in the aftermath of Ms Bhutto’s tragic death reflects a mix of anger, frustration and helplessness of the people disempowered. This wound inflicted by the assassination of Pakistan’s most popular and charismatic leader is not likely to be healed for a long time to come.

Pakistan has been reeling from crisis to crisis since President Musharraf’s fateful decision eight months ago to sack the chief justice. His problems have compounded by his efforts to salvage the situation by allowing Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, his two most powerful adversaries to return home. Ms Bhutto glavanised a people wary of a long period of authoritarian rule. She gave voice to the disposessed and disenfranchised masses.

Despite the impressive economic growth of recent years, Pakistan today is more divided than ever. The social and cultural divide has become more pronounced with growing economic disparity. That has also resulted in increasing political discontent among underprevilaged, who Ms Bhutto’s liberal Pakistan People’s Party claims to represent.

Her chequered record in power and charges of corruption against her and her husband Asif Ali Zardari hardly mattered to them. Even her most bitter political opponents gave her credit for her political courage and her defiance of Islamic militants which may have ultimately cost her life.

Bhutto’s loss is more than that of political leader. She had come to symbolize the unity of an easy federation, because of her party’s appeal that cut across province and class. Despite her being a feudal aristocrat, Ms Bhutto inspired a vision of a modern, liberal and secular Pakistan.

This vision is now in danger of being unturned with her, unless her party could continue her legacy.

As Ms Bhutto was buried, Pakistan is confronted with nagging questions about its future. Pakistan today may be at its most dangerous point where those who stand up to militancy risk being eliminated.

Despite President Musharraf’s claim of having curbed Islamic militancy, the forces of extremism and intolerance have gained in strength. One of their main objective is to derail the democratic process. Mr. Musharraf’s preoccupation with his political survival has distracted him from critical issue of combating extremism. The prevailing political uncertainity helped the extremist forces expand their influence. Turmoil suits extremists and this has been quite obvious by their growing stridency.

The absence of Ms. Bhutto suits some political groups as well as some elements within the powerful military establishment who remained opposed to her liberal world view. Her populism threatened their vested interests. Her death will further widen the cleavage within the federation of Pakistan. The tragedy has revived the wounds of Sindh province caused by the execution of her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto some thirty years ago.

Where does Pakistan go from here? Can Pakistan continue its democratic transition in the face of these challenges? This transition can only be meaningful if it is predicated on national reconciliation, especially between the army and the democratic forces. But the main question is whether such a reconciliation is possible with or without Musharraf.

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