VOA常速英语2007年-Pakistan's Political Turmoil

By Ravi Khanna
Washington
31 December 2007
 

Hundreds of thousands of mourners paid their last respects to Pakistani opposition¹ leader Benazir Bhutto as she was buried on Friday beside her father at the family mausoleum, a day after allegedly a suicide attacker killed her. VOA'S Ravi Khanna takes a look at how the assassination² might impact Pakistan's political scene and its ongoing³ war against extremism.

An Islamic cleric led mourners in prayers as her plain wood coffin⁴, draped in the red, green and black flag of her Pakistan People's Party was placed in a grave inside the vast, white marble mausoleum in southern Sindh province near Bhutto's ancestral home.

On Thursday, as news of the 54-year old Benazir Bhutto's assassination spread across Pakistan, angry supporters of the opposition leader took to the streets across the country to protest against her killing⁵. The killing threw the campaign for the January 8th election into chaos⁶ and created fears of mass protests and an eruption⁷ of violence across the volatile⁸ south Asian nation.

Former Assistant Secretary of State Karl Inderfurth says this is the time for President Musharraf to rise to the occasion and try to unite the country by including every one across the political spectrum⁹. "President Musharraf should join with them, with the political parties, all political parties including Islamist political parties, playing by democratic rules in parliament. They should be part of this broader coalition¹⁰ to deal together with the forces of extremism," he said.

Inderfurth says moderate forces in Pakistan are the country's future. "What President Musharraf can do is to join with those forces that, unfortunately, found themselves, many of them, in jail during the emergency, the lawyers, civil society, human rights organizations all of these people they are not the enemy in Pakistan. They are the future of Pakistan."

The enemy, according to, President Musharraf, are the extremists who want to establish a theocratic¹¹ state.

Farhana Ali at the Rand Corporation says the Bhutto assassination will strengthen Musharraf's hand in dealing¹² with them. "Now with the latest attack against Benazir it only makes his claim much stronger that Pakistan has come into the hands of the extremists and that Pakistan now needs to take a stronger stance against terrorism."

But Teresita Schaffer of the Center for Strategic and International Studies says as a result of the instability caused by Bhutto's assassination, the war against terrorism in tribal¹³ and border areas is going to slow down. She points out, "The question at this point is how much attention will the Musharraf government be able to devote to the border areas when its entire domestic tranquility is shattered and they feel they need to be focusing in the first instance on keeping peace in Pakistani cities."

But Farhana Ali says it is only natural that the battle against terrorists will take the back seat for now as President Musharraf tries to go ahead and hold parliamentary elections on schedule. "The right thing to do is not to be deterred¹⁴. The right thing for Mr. Musharraf, in my opinion, is go forward with the elections to prove to the world community that Pakistan is strong, that Pakistan intends to remain committed to the path of democracy," Ali adds.

Both Schaffer and Inderfurth believe opposition leader Nawaz Sharif can play a very constructive¹⁵ role now in building bridges with the Musharraf government for a smooth transition to liberal democracy, what Bhutto was trying to do before she was killed on December 27th in Rawalpindi.

1 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

2 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

3 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

4 coffin   

n.棺材，灵柩

参考例句：

• When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
• The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

7 eruption   

n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作

参考例句：

• The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
• The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。

8 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

9 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

10 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

11 theocratic   

adj.神权的，神权政治的

参考例句：

• The priest caste wields considerable power in this rigidly theocratic society. 祭司阶层(priestcaste)在这个严格的神权社会中掌握着相当大的权力。 来自互联网
• The heartland of Islam, by contrast, is theocratic. 相反，伊斯兰教的核心地带则是神权政治。 来自互联网

12 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

13 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

14 deterred   

v.阻止，制止( deter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I told him I wasn't interested, but he wasn't deterred. 我已告诉他我不感兴趣，可他却不罢休。
• Jeremy was not deterred by this criticism. 杰里米没有因这一批评而却步。 来自辞典例句

15 constructive   

adj.建设的，建设性的

参考例句：

• We welcome constructive criticism.我们乐意接受有建设性的批评。
• He is beginning to deal with his anger in a constructive way.他开始用建设性的方法处理自己的怒气。