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The vandalism and arson witnessed in response to Benazir Bhutto’s death have about them the frightening air of anarchy. Even as the more law-abiding of the citizens struggled to come to grips with what they had endured already, another wave of chaos was unleashed. Vehicles were set ablaze while the streets were already littered with the ashes of the previous day’s violence and citizens remained in their homes, terrified, as a thick pall of smoke hung over the city and the sound of gunfire broke the eerie stillness.
Most worrying is the fact that petty criminals appeared to have been using the protests as an excuse for looting and robbery. Eyewitnesses told of rioters stealing car radios before setting the vehicles afire, there are countless incidents where commuters have been robbed at gunpoint while stuck in traffic jams, and commercial areas have been ransacked before being put to the flame. These acts speak of naked, violent greed rather than spontaneous, grief-stricken madness.
Meanwhile, the flag flies at half mast at the Supreme Court building.
