Benazir Bhutto's courageous - some would say foolhardy - return to Pakistan from exile was instrumental in raising hopes the country could emerge from military rule and begin laying the foundations of a stable, tolerant and peaceful democracy. Amid regional rebellion and challenges to state authority fomented by extremists, that would have been difficult enough. With Bhutto's death in a shooting and suicide bombing, those hopes may be a casualty too.
After Bhutto resumed leadership of the Pakistan People's Party, President Pervez Musharraf bowed to international pressure to step down as army chief and call parliamentary elections for January 8. Her credibility may have been clouded by the corruption and incompetence that marked her two terms as prime minister, but she campaigned on a clear choice not only between democracy and dictatorship, but between moderation and extremism.
That cost Bhutto her life. Her death is testament to the murderous intolerance with which extremists view the values she espoused. It is also a disaster for Pakistan. It casts grave uncertainty over the difficult task of forming a functional government after next month's elections and provides more opportunities for extremists to undermine democracy.
Bhutto knew the risk she was taking even before she returned from abroad in October. A bomb attack on her welcome-home parade that killed 145 people left her in no doubt about it. But she continued campaigning with little regard for her own safety. Despite her reckless defiance and warnings of danger from the authorities, Mr Musharraf cannot escape questions about the security arrangements for Bhutto's public appearances. Her aides claim they had sought more protection from possible violence, without success. The garrison city of Rawalpindi, venue of her fatal last rally, seemed a place where security might have been expected to be effective. Some Bhutto followers have even accused Mr Musharraf of complicity in her death, although they have produced no evidence to back up their allegations. While some military officers may see her death as an opening to reassert their hold on power, it has done nothing to strengthen Mr Musharraf's position.
What the pro-western Bhutto lacked in credibility because of the corruption claims she made up for in popularity among the people. Had she contested and won the election - as seemed likely - she would have had international support for a deal with Mr Musharraf that would have left him as president with a power base in the army.
Her death leaves the way ahead unclear at a time when Pakistan badly needs national direction to ward off the threat of disintegration. Her party has no obvious successor as leader. Another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League and once her arch-rival, has boycotted the elections. The president must not use Bhutto's death as an excuse to cancel the elections, however. The suicide attack was after all a challenge to the standing of the country's legitimate rulers and its institutions. All the leaders should now unite in support of fair and free elections as a rallying point for the return of democracy and against the extremism that threatens to tear the country apart.