STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy is a journalist in Karachi, and she has been out on the streets, looking around, and what have you seen today?
SHARMEEN OBAID CHINOY: But, yes, I mean, Karachi is going to see curfews, you can see the police is out on the street in large numbers. Already, they're trying to calm the situation down.
INSKEEP: NPR's Philip Reeves mentioned that up to now, the political drama in Pakistan has been seen as a battle between the elites and the masses of people have not been that engaged in this battle between opposition leaders and Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf. Do you see any early sense that that has changed now that Bhutto has been killed?
OBAID CHINOY: I don't see that right now on the streets at all. It's very (unintelligible) what's happening because the news is slowly filtering out that Benazir Bhutto has been killed. But you are right. The people haven't mobilized against the government and it's because Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif had been in power twice before, and what they represented, the people have seen corruption, nepotism. And a lot of people do not necessarily feel that they want the same leaders to come back into Pakistan. They don't see them as democratic leaders. They may not like President Pervez Musharraf but they certainly do not like what Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif are representing.
INSKEEP: How much enthusiasm, if any, was there about the January elections in which Bhutto's party was competing?
OBAID CHINOY: So a lot of people were very amazed that this was going to take place. They thought that when people would go out and vote that's how you'd elect people. But the political parties between themselves were already deciding who was going to get what chair.
INSKEEP: Thank you very much for taking the time.
OBAID CHINOY: Thank you.
INSKEEP: And those responding to Benazir Bhutto's killing today include President Bush who spoke from Crawford, Texas.
GEORGE W: The United States strongly condemns this cowardly act by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan's democracy. Those who committed this crime must be brought to justice. Mrs. Bhutto served the nation twice as prime minister and she knew that her return to Pakistan earlier this year put her life at risk. Yet, she refused to allow assassins to dictate the course of her country. We stand with the people of Pakistan in their struggling against the forces of terror and extremism.
INSKEEP: President Bush on MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
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