ASZ normally doesn’t do breaking news, but a gut feeling tells me that the assassination this morning of former Pakistan president Benazir Bhutto is going to have some serious implications in the region. There’s not much to add at this point except that this absolutely can’t be good for the stability of the overall political situation in Pakistan (which is unstable, on a good day…)

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a suicide attack that also killed at least 20 others at a campaign rally, aides said.

“The surgeons confirmed that she has been martyred,” Bhutto’s lawyer Babar Awan said.

A party security adviser said Bhutto was shot in neck and chest as she got into her vehicle to leave the rally in Rawalpindi near the capital Islamabad. A gunman then blew himself up…

Scores of others were killed in the attack.

Bhutto returned to Pakistan a couple of months ago after years in exile, and was working behind the scenes to force strongman Pervez Musharraf to forge a coalition government.

There’s no word at this point what effect this event might have on scheduled elections in January. Musharraf had declared martial law in November, but the declaration was lifted a few weeks ago after he dismissed the Supreme Court, loaded it with his own judges, and reconstituted Pakistan’s parliament.

Juan Cole and the Global Affairs sites should be good sources of analysis as more information develops.

Update: Reports from Pakistan this evening indicate that civil order is in disarray. And, it’s now appearing likely that that the scheduled January parliamentary elections will be postponed.

Here are some links to some excellent analysis and reporting:

Alternet’s Joshua Holland has been following the events in Pakistan for quite some time, and weighs in with a less than flattering analysis of Bhutto’s legacy:

…The sad irony here is that because of the baggage she carried, Benazir Bhutto will probably be much more effective as a martyr to democracy than she would be as it’s spokesperson. But that’s not good news; reports filtering out of Pakistan suggest widespread chaos has broken out in various states, and the prospects for a lot more blood shed to follow are simply frightening.

From Phoenixwoman comes the following links to Pak blogs that are following the developments. Links may or may not work; it’s been reported that phone, TV, and internet in Pakistan have been either taken offline or blocked.

http://lahore.metblogs.com/
http://islamabad.metblogs.com/
http://karachi.metblogs.com/

…and, from the “so much bullshit” file…

“The United States strongly condemns this cowardly act by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan’s democracy,” Bush told reporters…

U.S. officials said they were leery of intervening in another nation’s internal affairs, and didn’t want to give Bhutto Washington’s imprimatur…

Undermine “Pakistan’s democracy”? Leery of “intervening in another nation’s internal affairs”? Since when?? What goddam rock has George W. Bush been living under for the past 7 years? Pakistan is operating under a dictator, who declared martial law, threw out the jurists he didn’t like, and imprisoned radical elements (read: constitutional lawyers).

Yeah, that’s Bush’s kind of democracy. Argh.

More later…