Benazir Bhutto’s assassination has crippled international hopes that Pakistan might achieve the state of stability the world has always longed for it. In addition, analysts think that her death might even plunge Pakistan into further peril.

“This assassination is the most serious setback for democracy in Pakistan,” said Rasul Baksh Rais, a political scientist at Lahore’s University of Management Sciences. “It shows extremists are powerful enough to disrupt the democratic process.”

Her assassination on Thursday is yet one more horrifying reminder of how far Pakistan is from both — and how close it is to the brink. Read on.

Her death only exacerbates the problems Pakistan has been grappling with for the past few months: how to find a modicum of political stability through a representative government that the army can accept and will not work to undermine, and how to tackle the extremism spreading in the country. Read on.