Like many of our readers, I've been filled with many conflicting thoughts and emotions after the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto. After the recent constitutional crisis fostered by Musharraf, it seemed like things couldn't get much worse.

I've never been too thrilled with any of the major political players in Pakistan, though each has their good and bad points. But Benazir's murder has evoked a reaction in the general public not seen since the death of Britain's Princess Diana. Many Muslims I've spoken to today, regardless of their feelings towards Benazir's political legacy, were deeply distressed, as if someone in their family had been lost. (For Zahed and I, this is literally true - our first cousin's children lost their Aunt Benazir today.)

The talking heads today have gone down their expected paths - Pakistan is a failed state whose days are numbered, extremists are poised to get their hands on nuclear weapons, etc. It's easy to write off Pakistan given the dearth of strong and principled political leadership there, combined with the drastic increase in terrorist violence. There is a basis of truth for all of these positions, of course. But as anyone who has visited Pakistan knows, the Pakistani people are resilient and yearn for a free, peaceful, and prosperous country. Against all odds, I remain optimistic that the country will somehow find the stability it so desperately needs.

The outpouring of sympathy by ordinary Muslims and non-Muslims around the world shows that Benazir represented a vision of a modern Muslim society that was almost universally appreciated. That a Muslim woman attained such heights and influence should put to rest the notion that Muslims are inherently anti-female (though, with half the Muslim world having freely elected a Muslim woman leader at some point, the point should have been made long ago).

Associate editor Rafia Zakaria, who is currently in Karachi and experiencing the aftermath firsthand, is preparing a piece for us to run in the coming days. Likewise, I'm contributing an article at Beliefnet.com that focuses on the bigger picture of extremism in Pakistan in general and we'll continue to cover various aspects of the ongoing crisis in Pakistan here. We welcome your thoughts.

Are there any other muslim women of note who will help to fill the void left, or was bhutto a fluke of birth?

any women who live in pakistan full time and are agents of social change in their own right?
did the position bhutto occupy result in any furtherance of rights for women? education? business ownership? autonomy? self-determination?

full time citizens of pakistan?
women who stay there, live there, and have benefitted in their quality of life.
( i am not discounting that there are western raised and educated women of pakistani desecent- but they have dfferent opportunities presented to them, and also the option to leave, come back, leave etc...)
im asking about the average girl in the street, without powerful and rich family members.

honestly, my notions that pakistanis are inherently anti-female have not been put to rest.

what exactly is the legacy left behind by bhutto?

thank you for your answers.

let em also apologize somehwat belatedly for not prefacing my question with my sympathies for all the pakistani people whose lives and hearts have been affected

My sympathies and condolences to all for whom Ms.Bhutto represented, as you so well put it, Shahed, a vision of a modern Muslim society, if not a nation. This article, with your piece at Beliefnet, offers reason to hope that the "system perturbation" which Pakistan has experienced since Ms. Bhutto's arrival in Karachi, to now, will offer a fulcrum point to the majority ranged around and extending from the center of Pakistani society's spectrum. Perhaps this point will mark the beginning of a renewal of Pakistan's original idea, which, I think, combined a modern but non-violent vision of Islamic faith and spirituality with the best practices of secular, pluralist, participatory civil life and government. Surely that vision is preferable to the contemporary vision of a center dominated and hamstrung by the zero-sum politics of the extremes of Left and Right.