Hey guys - This was meant to be a jolly happy christmas and a happy new year message to say hello, but given the circumstances thought I'd better email everyone to say that I'm okay to reassure panicked parents etc. In case you have't heard, it has really kicked off in Pakistan: Benazir Bhutto was assassinated last night at a rally in Rawalpindi, along with 22 others who were killed in a bomb blast moments later, and half a dozen who died in riots and fires across Pakistan last night. Everyone here is in shock (though I think a lot of people saw it happening) and we spent the night listening to car horns and street protests across Delhi. Security has been shifted to high-alert here, and the whole south-asian region is on edge. We'll see what happens. It's been interesting watching the difference between India and Southasian news reportage and that from the West, especially CNN and other american channels. There it's all Islamic fundamentalists and Pakistan being a terrorist state with nuclear weapons. Here the initial reports showed people and political figures saying that Musharraf (or at least the military) had killed Benazir Bhutto - political, not religious, conflict. Now, interviews with Bhutto a few days earlyseem to point the finger at elements from the political instiution and security agencies, especially the ISI (Pakistan Intelligence agency) The significance of Rawalpindi is also interesting - whilst the american channels are reporting it as an embarrassment for Musharraf, with terrorist cells infiltrating the military heartland, here, after the initial kneejerk reaction from Pakistani and Indian news services that the military conducted the attack, the lack of sufficient security arrangements and leaked anecdotes seem to be suggesting administrative collusion. What is interesting is the number of attacks, suicide bombs and assassination attempts on all sorts of figures (even Mush himself) that have occurred recently in the town - after the Karachi bombing Benazir's first planned visit there was cancelled. Indeed, Nawas Sharif only narrowly escaped from gunfire at his rally at the same time as the death of Bhutto. The anger in Pakistan hasn't quite turned against Washington's blatent involvement in the Pakistani political process (of which Benazir Bhutto's death is surely a consequence), but I'm sure it will soon. As far as India is concerned, I just hope the seemingly inevitable backlash against muslim communities here in Indian can be limited - there's already enough hostility and prejudice amongst the majority of Indians and in Indian politics. We've already been advised to avoid the muslim field area to which we were meant to be going in the next week, and the border is obviously going to be at red-alert. The Indian viewpoint is interesting too - there's been a lot of talk about Bhutto's attitude to Kashmir (which seemed relatively sympathetic, though no Indian will go so far as to say a Pakistani is favourable to india) but more interesting is suggestions that discontent in Afghanistan was actively fomented by Pakistan in a anti-Indian or destablising context. Indian politicians seem to have openly admitted that their involvement in Afghanistan is decided by their desire to undermine Pakistan and the state's legitimacy. At any rate, it's important to remember that Pakistan, despite its extremist elements, is largely moderate in terms of religion before any muslim-bashing jihadist war-on-terror rhetoric starts in american and elsewhere. What seems to be lost in western reporting too is the extent of corruption in Pakistan (and India, no less)... one of the most shocking news items was an inteview with Asma whats-her-face, the head of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission, whose usual self-control was gone and she was clearly terrified, crying openly. Besides that though, she spoke of the endemic corruption in Pakistani politics that is preventing any hope of stability and progress. As seems to happen so often, political ambitions and in-fighting have made use of socio-religious frictions without realising how powerful are the sentiments they have released. Even Benazir Bhutto herself was emblematic of the power of political dynasties, and she's been frequently compared here to the Gandhi family (especially Rajiv), not in terms of tragedy but in terms of ruling families. In case it isn't clear, India is run by the Gandhi family, though there seems to be increasing discontent amongst members of the party and the public with the levels of corruption, dynastic politics and the underhand means by which Sonia Gandhi has built up here power base (just note the number of accidental deaths of key family members). Hmm. So we'll see. Fingers crossed for the future. God knows what the best idea about the election is. At any rate, I'm all doing well here, so no worries on my account. But i've forgotten what I was going to say about christmas and new year (except for my no is +9109899602151 if anyone fancies calling - any time is good, though perhaps not the middle of the night)... so lots of love, i'm missing you all terribly of course (and turkey and stuffing and roast potatoes) happy xmas and new year and speak to you all soon. big loving from jess xx and ps. love you family, cheers for the visit it was awesome!