Benazir Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto بینظیر بھٹو
Prime Minister of Pakistan
In office 19 October 1993 – 05 November 1996
President	Wasim Sajjad Farooq Leghari
Preceded by	Moeen Qureshi
Succeeded by	Miraj Khalid
In office 02 December 1988 – 06 August 1990
President	Ghulam Ishaq Khan
Preceded by	Muhammad Khan Junejo
Succeeded by	Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi
Personal details
Born	(1953-06-21)21 June 1953 Karachi, Pakistan
Died	27 December 2007(2007-12-27) (aged 54) Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Political party	Pakistan Peoples Party
Spouse	Asif Ali Zardari
Alma mater	Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, Radcliffe College, Harvard University

Benazir Bhutto (IPA: [beːnɜziːr bʰʊʈʈoː]; June 21, 1953 – December 27, 2007) was a Pakistani politician who chaired the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) (Urdu: پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی), a centre-left political party in Pakistan affiliated to the Socialist International. Bhutto was the first woman elected to lead a Muslim state, having been twice elected Prime Minister of Pakistan. She was sworn in for the first time in 1988 at the age of 35, but was removed from office 20 months later under the order of then-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan on grounds of alleged corruption. In 1993 Bhutto was re-elected but was again removed in 1996 on similar charges, this time by President Farooq Leghari.

Bhutto went into self-imposed exile in Dubai in 1998, where she remained until she returned to Pakistan on 18 October 2007, after reaching an understanding with President Musharraf by which she was granted amnesty and all corruption charges were withdrawn.

She was the eldest child of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a Pakistani of Sindhi descent, and Begum Nusrat Bhutto, a Pakistani of Iranian-Kurdish descent. Her paternal grandfather was Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto, who came to Larkana Sindh before partition from his native town of Bhatto Kalan, which was situated in the Indian state of Haryana.

She was assassinated on 27 December 2007, in a combined suicide bomb attack and shooting during a political rally of the Pakistan Peoples Party in the Liaquat National Bagh in Rawalpindi. Ex-government spokesman Tariq Azim Khan said that, although it appeared that she had been shot, it was unclear whether her wounds had been caused by a shooting or shrapnel from the bomb. Eyewitnesses to the assassination stated to various news agencies that Ms. Bhutto had stood up through the sunroof of the white Toyota Land Cruiser that ferried her to the rally[2] to wave at supporters who were cheering her. It is then that a "thin man" on a motorcycle, carrying an AK-47 rifle, fired two shots, one into Bhutto's neck, and she fell back into the vehicle.[3] After this, the assailant proceeded to detonate an explosive which resulted in the deaths of himself and at least 22 others, while many others were injured. Bhutto was rushed to Rawalpindi General Hospital where she died at 6:16 p.m. (Pakistan local time) (1316 UTC). The gunshot to the neck was reported as the cause of death, according to the Pakistani Interior Ministry.

Education and personal life

Benazir Bhutto was born in Karachi, Dominion of Pakistan on 21 June 1953. She attended the Lady Jennings Nursery School and then the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Karachi. After two years of schooling at the Rawalpindi Presentation Convent, she was sent to the Jesus and Mary Convent at Murree. She passed her O-level examination at the age of 15. She then went on to complete her A-Levels at the Karachi Grammar School.

After completing her early education in Pakistan, she pursued her higher education in the United States. From 1969 to 1973 she attended Radcliffe College, and then Harvard University, where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude in comparative government. She was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

The next phase of her education took place in the United Kingdom. Between 1973 and 1977 Bhutto studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. She completed a course in International Law and Diplomacy while at Oxford. In December 1976 she was elected president of the Oxford Union, becoming the first Asian woman to head the prestigious debating society.

On 18 December 1987 she married Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi. The couple had three children: Bilawal, Bakhtwar, and Aseefa.

Family

Benazir Bhutto's father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was dismissed as Prime Minister in 1975, on charges similar to those Benazir Bhutto would later face. Later, in a 1977 trial on charges of conspiracy to murder the father of dissident politician Ahmed Raza Kasuri, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was sentenced to death.

Despite the accusation being "widely doubted by the public", and despite many clemency appeals from foreign leaders, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged on 4 April 1979. Appeals for clemency were dismissed by acting President General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. Benazir Bhutto and her mother were held in a "police camp" until the end of May, after the execution.

In 1985, Benazir Bhutto's brother Shahnawaz was killed under suspicious circumstances, in France. The killing of another of her brothers, Mir Murtaza, in 1996, contributed to destabilizing her second term as Prime Minister.

Prime Minister

Benazir Bhutto on a visit to Washington, D.C. in 1988

Bhutto, who had returned to Pakistan after completing her studies, found herself placed under house arrest in the wake of her father's imprisonment and subsequent execution. Having been allowed in 1984 to return to the United Kingdom, she became a leader in exile of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), her father's party, though she was unable to make her political presence felt in Pakistan until after the death of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. She had succeeded her mother as leader of the Pakistan People's Party and the pro-democracy opposition to the Zia-ul-Haq regime.

On 16 November 1988, in the first open election in more than a decade, Bhutto's PPP won the largest bloc of seats in the National Assembly. Bhutto was sworn in as Prime Minister of a coalition government on 2 December, becoming at age 35 the youngest person — and the first woman — to head the government of a Muslim-majority state in modern times. That same year, People Magazine included Ms. Bhutto in its list of The Fifty Most Beautiful People. In 1989, she was awarded the Prize For Freedom by the Liberal International.

Bhutto's government was dismissed in 1990 following charges of corruption, for which she never was tried. Zia's protégé Nawaz Sharif subsequently came to power. Bhutto was re-elected in 1993 but was dismissed three years later amid various corruption scandals by then president Farooq Leghari, who used the Eighth Amendment discretionary powers to dissolve the government. The Supreme Court affirmed President Leghari's dismissal in a 6-1 ruling. In 2006, Interpol issued a request for arrest of Bhutto and her husband.

The criticism against Bhutto came largely from the Punjabi elites and powerful landlord families who opposed Bhutto as she pushed Pakistan into nationalist reform, opposing feudals, whom she blamed for the destabilization of Pakistan.

Musharraf's disqualification

On 17 September 2007 Benazir Bhutto accused Pervez Musharraf's allies of pushing Pakistan into crisis by their refusal to permit democratic reforms and power-sharing. A nine-member panel of Supreme Court judges deliberated on six petitions (including one from Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's largest Islamic group) asserting that Musharraf be disqualified from contending for the presidency of Pakistan. Bhutto stated that her party could join one of the opposition groups, potentially that of Nawaz Sharif. Attorney-general Malik Mohammed Qayyum stated that, pendente lite, the Election Commission was "reluctant" to announce the schedule for the presidential vote. Bhutto's party's Farhatullah Babar stated that the Constitution could bar Musharraf from being elected again because he was already chief of the army: "As Gen. Musharraf was disqualified from contesting for President, he has prevailed upon the Election Commission to arbitrarily and illegally tamper with the Constitution of Pakistan."

Policies for women

During election campaigns the Bhutto government voiced its concern for women's social and health issues, including the issue of discrimination against women. Bhutto announced plans to establish women's police stations, courts, and women's development banks. Despite these promises, Bhutto did not propose any legislation to improve welfare services for women. During her election campaigns, Bhutto promised to repeal controversial laws (such as Hudood and Zina ordinances) that curtail the rights of women in Pakistan. Her party never did fulfil these promises during her tenures as Prime Minister, due to immense pressure from the opposition.

Only after her stints as Prime Minister did her party initiate legislation to repeal the Zina ordinance, during General Musharraf's regime. These efforts were defeated by the right-wing religious parties that dominated the legislatures at the time.

Policy on Taliban

The Taliban took power in Kabul in September 1996. It was during Bhutto's rule that the Taliban gained prominence in Afghanistan. She viewed the Taliban as a group that could stabilize Afghanistan and enable trade access to the Central Asian republics, according to author Stephen Coll. He claims that her government provided military and financial support for the Taliban, even sending a small unit of the Pakistani army into Afghanistan.

More recently, she took an anti-Taliban stance, and condemned terrorist acts committed by the Taliban and their supporters.

Exile

After being dismissed by the then-president of Pakistan on charges of corruption, her party lost the October elections. She served as leader of the opposition while Nawaz Sharif became Prime Minister for the next three years. Elections were held again in October 1993 and her PPP coalition was victorious, returning Bhutto to office. In 1996 her government was once again dismissed on corruption charges.

Charges of corruption

French, Polish, Spanish, and Swiss documents have fueled the charges of corruption against Bhutto and her husband. Bhutto and her husband faced a number of legal proceedings, including a charge of laundering money through Swiss banks. Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, spent eight years in prison on similar corruption charges. Zardari, released from jail in 2004, has suggested that his time in prison involved torture; human rights groups have supported his claim that his rights were violated.

A 1998 New York Times investigative report indicates that Pakistani investigators have documents that uncover a network of bank accounts, all linked to the family's lawyer in Switzerland, with Asif Zardari as the principal shareholder. According to the article, documents released by the French authorities indicated that Zardari offered exclusive rights to Dassault, a French aircraft manufacturer, to replace the air force's fighter jets in exchange for a 5% commission to be paid to a Swiss corporation controlled by Zardari. The article also said a Dubai company received an exclusive license to import gold into Pakistan for which Asif Zardari received payments of more than $10M into his Dubai-based Citibank accounts. The owner of the company denied that he had made payments to Zardari and claims the documents were forged.

Bhutto maintained that the charges leveled against her and her husband were purely political. "Most of those documents are fabricated," she said, "and the stories that have been spun around them are absolutely wrong." An Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) report supports Bhutto's claim. It presents information suggesting that Benazir Bhutto was ousted from power in 1990 as a result of a witch hunt approved by then-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan. The AGP report says Khan illegally paid legal advisers 28 million Rupees to file 19 corruption cases against Bhutto and her husband in 1990-92.

The assets held by Bhutto and her husband have been scrutinized. The prosecutors have alleged that their Swiss bank accounts contain £740 million. Zardari also bought a neo-Tudor mansion and estate worth over £4 million in Surrey, England, UK. The Pakistani investigations have tied other overseas properties to Zardari's family. These include a $2.5 million manor in Normandy owned by Zardari's parents, who had modest assets at the time of his marriage. Bhutto denied holding substantive overseas assets.

Bhutto and her husband until recently continued to face wide-ranging charges of official corruption in connection with hundreds of millions of dollars of "commissions" on government contracts and tenders. But because of a power-sharing deal brokered in October 2007 between Bhutto and Musharraf, she and her husband had been granted amnesty. If it stands, this development could trigger a number of Swiss banks to "unlock" accounts that were frozen in the late 1990s. The executive order could in principle be challenged by the judiciary, although the judiciary's future was uncertain due to the same recent developments.

Switzerland

On 23 July 1998, the Swiss Government handed over documents to the government of Pakistan which relate to corruption allegations against Benazir Bhutto and her husband. The documents included a formal charge of money laundering by Swiss authorities against Zardari. The Pakistani government had been conducting a wide-ranging inquiry to account for more than $13.7 million frozen by Swiss authorities in 1997 that was allegedly stashed in banks by Bhutto and her husband. The Pakistani government recently filed criminal charges against Bhutto in an effort to track down an estimated $1.5 billion she and her husband are alleged to have received in a variety of criminal enterprises. The documents suggest that the money Zardari was alleged to have laundered was accessible to Benazir Bhutto and had been used to buy a diamond necklace for over $175,000.

The PPP has responded by flatly denying the charges, suggesting that Swiss authorities have been misled by false evidence provided by Islamabad.

On 6 August 2003, Swiss magistrates found Bhutto and her husband guilty of money laundering. They were given six-month suspended jail terms, fined $50,000 each and were ordered to pay $11 million to the Pakistani government. The six-year trial concluded that Bhutto and Zardari deposited in Swiss accounts $10 million given to them by a Swiss company in exchange for a contract in Pakistan. The couple said they would appeal. The Pakistani investigators say Zardari opened a Citibank account in Geneva in 1995 through which they say he passed some $40 million of the $100 million he received in payoffs from foreign companies doing business in Pakistan.

In October 2007, Daniel Zappelli, chief prosecutor of the canton of Geneva, said he received the conclusions of a money laundering investigation against former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Monday, October 29, but it was unclear whether there would be any further legal action against her in Switzerland.

Poland

The Polish Government has given Pakistan 500 pages of documentation relating to corruption allegations against Benazir Bhutto and her husband. These charges are in regard to the purchase of 8,000 tractors in a 1997 deal. According to Pakistani officials, the Polish papers contain details of illegal commissions paid by the tractor company in return for agreeing to their contract. It was alleged that the arrangement "skimmed" Rs 103 mn rupees ($2 million) in kickbacks. "The documentary evidence received from Poland confirms the scheme of kickbacks laid out by Asif Zardari and Benazir Bhutto in the name of (the) launching of Awami tractor scheme," APP said. Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari allegedly received a 7.15% commission on the purchase through their front men, Jens Schlegelmilch and Didier Plantin of Dargal S.A., who received about $1.969 million for supplying 5,900 Ursus tractors.

France

Potentially the most lucrative deal alleged in the documents involved the effort by Dassault Aviation, a French military contractor. French authorities indicated in 1998 that Bhutto's husband, Zardari, offered exclusive rights to Dassault to replace the air force’s fighter jets in exchange for a five percent commission to be paid to a corporation in Switzerland controlled by Zardari.

At the time, French corruption laws forbade bribery of French officials but permitted payoffs to foreign officials, and even made the payoffs tax-deductible in France. However, France changed this law in 2000.

Western Asia

In the largest single payment investigators have discovered, a gold bullion dealer in the Western Asia was alleged to have deposited at least $10 million into one of Zardari's accounts after the Bhutto government gave him a monopoly on gold imports that sustained Pakistan's jewellery industry. The money was allegedly deposited into Zardari's Citibank account in Dubai.

Pakistan's Arabian Sea coast, stretching from Karachi to the border with Iran, has long been a gold smugglers' haven. Until the beginning of Bhutto's second term, the trade, running into hundreds of millions of dollars a year, was unregulated, with slivers of gold called biscuits, and larger weights in bullion, carried on planes and boats that travel between the Persian Gulf and the largely unguarded Pakistani coast.

Shortly after Bhutto returned as prime minister in 1993, a Pakistani bullion trader in Dubai, Abdul Razzak Yaqub, proposed a deal: in return for the exclusive right to import gold, Razzak would help the government regularize the trade. In November 1994, Pakistan's Commerce Ministry wrote to Razzak informing him that he had been granted a license that made him, for at least the next two years, Pakistan's sole authorized gold importer. In an interview in his office in Dubai, Razzak acknowledged that he had used the license to import more than $500 million in gold into Pakistan, and that he had travelled to Islamabad several times to meet with Bhutto and Zardari. But he denied that there had been any corruption or secret deals. "I have not paid a single cent to Zardari," he said.

Razzak claims that someone in Pakistan who wished to destroy his reputation had contrived to have his company wrongly identified as the depositor. "Somebody in the bank has cooperated with my enemies to make false documents," he said.

During exile

2002 election

The Bhutto-led Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) secured the highest number of votes (28.42%) and eighty seats (23.16%) in the national assembly in the October 2002 general elections. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) managed to win eighteen seats only. Some of the elected candidates of Pakistan Peoples Party formed a faction of their own, calling it PPP-Patriots which was being led by Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat, the former leader of Bhutto-led PPP. They later formed a coalition government with Musharraf's party, PML-Q.

Early 2000s

In 2002, Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf amended Pakistan's constitution to ban prime ministers from serving more than two terms. This disqualifies Bhutto from ever holding the office again. This move was widely considered to be a direct attack on former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. On 3 August 2003, Bhutto became a member of Minhaj ul Quran International (An international Muslim educational and welfare organization).

From September 2004, Bhutto lived in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where she cared for her children and her mother, who was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, travelling to give lectures and keeping in touch with the Pakistan Peoples Party's supporters. She and her three children were reunited with her husband and their father in December 2004 after more than five years.

On 27 January 2007 she was invited by the United States to speak to President Bush and congressional and State Department officials.

Bhutto appeared as a panellist on the BBC TV programme Question Time in the UK in March 2007. She has also appeared on BBC current affairs programme Newsnight on several occasions. She rebuffed comments made by Muhammad Ijaz-ul-Haq in May 2007 regarding the knighthood of Salman Rushdie, citing that he was calling for the assassination of foreign citizens.

Bhutto had declared her intention to return to Pakistan within 2007, which she did, in spite of Musharraf's statements of May 2007 about not allowing her to return ahead of the country's general election, due late 2007 or early 2008. It was speculated that she may have been offered the office of Prime Minister again.

Arthur Herman, a U.S. historian, in a controversial letter published in The Wall Street Journal on 14 June 2007, in response to an article by Bhutto highly critical of the president and his policies, has described her as "One of the most incompetent leaders in the history of South Asia", and asserted that she and other elites in Pakistan hate Musharraf because he was a muhajir, the son of one of millions of Indian Muslims who fled to Pakistan during partition in 1947. Herman has claimed, "Although it was muhajirs who agitated for the creation of Pakistan in the first place, many native Pakistanis view them with contempt and treat them as third-class citizens."

Nonetheless, as of mid-2007, the US appeared to be pushing for a deal in which Musharraf would remain as president but step down as military head, and either Bhutto or one of her nominees would become prime minister.

On 11 July 2007, the Associated Press, in an article about the possible aftermath of the Red Mosque incident, wrote:

Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister and opposition leader expected by many to return from exile and join Musharraf in a power-sharing deal after year-end general elections, praised him for taking a tough line on the Red Mosque.

I'm glad there was no cease-fire with the militants in the mosque because cease-fires simply embolden the militants," she told Britain's Sky TV on Tuesday. "There will be a backlash, but at some time we have to stop appeasing the militants."

This remark about the Red Mosque was seen with dismay in Pakistan as reportedly hundreds of young students were burned to death and remains are untraceable and cases are being heard in Pakistani supreme court as a missing persons issue. This and subsequent support for Musharaf led Elder Bhutto's comrades like Khar to criticize her publicly.

Bhutto however advised Musharraf in an early phase of the latter's quarrel with the Chief Justice, to restore him. Her PPP did not capitalize on its CEC member, Aitzaz, the chief Barrister for the Chief Justice, in successful restoration. Rather he was seen as a rival and was isolated.

Possible deal with the Musharraf Government

Talks between Musharraf and Bhutto in 2004 likely resulted in her husband's release.

In July 2007, some of Bhutto's frozen funds were released. Bhutto still faces significant charges of corruption. In an 8 August 2007 interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Bhutto revealed the meeting focused on her desire to return to Pakistan for the 2008 elections, and of Musharraf retaining the Presidency with Bhutto as Prime Minister. On 29 August 2007, Bhutto announced that Musharraf would step down as chief of the army. On 1 September Bhutto vowed to return to Pakistan "very soon", regardless of whether or not she reached a power-sharing deal with Musharraf before then.

Many observers consider such a deal improbable. In summer 2002 Musharraf implemented a two-term limit on Prime Ministers. Both Bhutto and Musharraf's other chief rival, Nawaz Sharif, have already served two terms as Prime Minister. Musharraf's allies in parliament, especially the PMLQ, are unlikely to reverse the changes to allow Prime Ministers to seek third terms, nor to make particular exceptions for either Bhutto or Sharif.

On 2 October 2007, Gen. Pervez Musharraf named Lt. Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, as vice chief of the army starting 8 October with the intent that if Musharraf won the presidency and resigned his military post, Kayani would become chief of the army. Meanwhile, Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed stated that officials agreed to grant Benazir Bhutto amnesty versus pending corruption charges. She has emphasized the smooth transition and return to civilian rule and has asked Pervez Musharaf to shed uniform.

On 5 October 2007 Musharraf signed the National Reconciliation Ordinance, giving amnesty to Bhutto and other political leaders—except exiled former premier Nawaz Sharif—in all court cases against them, including all corruption charges. The Ordinance came a day before Musharraf faced the crucial presidential poll. Both Bhutto's oppsition party, the PPP, and the ruling PMLQ, were involved in negotiations beforehand about the deal. In return, Bhutto and the PPP agreed not to boycott the Presidential election.

On 6 October 2007, Musharraf won a parliamentary election for President. However, the Supreme Court ruled that no winner can be officially proclaimed until it finishes deciding on whether it was legal for Musharraf to run for President while remaining Army General. Bhutto's PPP party did not join the other opposition parties' boycott of the election, but did abstain from voting. Later Bhutto demanded security coverage on-par with the President's. Bhutto also contracted foreign security firms for her protection.

Return to Pakistan and assassination attempts

While under house arrest, Benazir Bhutto speaks to supporters outside her house.

After eight years in exile in Dubai and London, Bhutto returned to Karachi on 18 October 2007 to prepare for the 2008 national elections.

En route to a rally in Karachi on 18 October 2007, two explosions occurred shortly after Bhutto had landed and left Jinnah International Airport. She was not injured but the explosions, later found to be a suicide-bomb attack, killed 136 people and injured at least 450. The dead included at least 50 of the security guards from her Pakistan Peoples Party who had formed a human chain around her truck to keep potential bombers away, as well as 6 police officers. A number of senior officials were injured. Bhutto was escorted unharmed from the scene.

Bhutto later claimed that she had warned the Pakistani government that suicide bomb squads would target her upon her return to Pakistan and that the government had failed to act. She was careful not to blame Pervez Musharraf for the attacks, accusing instead "certain individuals [within the government] who abuse their positions, who abuse their powers" to advance the cause of Islamic militants. Shortly after the attempt on her life, Bhutto wrote a letter Musharraf naming four persons whom she suspected of carrying out the attack. Those named included Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, a rival PML-Q politician and chief minister of Pakistan's Punjab province, Hamid Gul, former director of the Inter-Services Intelligence, and Ijaz Shah, the director general of the Intelligence Bureau, another of the country’s intelligence agencies. All those named are close associates of General Musharraf. Bhutto has a long history of accusing parts of the government, particularly Pakistan’s premier military intelligence agencies, of working against her and her party because they oppose her liberal, secular agenda. Bhutto claimed that the ISI has for decades backed militant Islamic groups in Kashmir and in Afghanistan.

There are discrepancies between the accounts published in western newspapers, Pakistani tabloids, and eye witness accounts of the assassination attempt. Bhutto's husband categorically refused to accept that the suicide bombing was an attack by Al Qaeda or the Taliban. Correspondingly, Pakistani Taliban leader Mehsud denied responsibility and Jamaat Islami, an opponent of Bhutto, announced a three days mourning period for the dead, thus lending credibility to Bhutto's claims that the attack was engineered by close associates in the government of General Musharraf.

Bhutto's associates describe an initial small grenade attack, followed twenty seconds later by larger explosives, one right and and one left of the truck carrying Bhutto; this was followed by a brief burst of gun fire directed at vehicle's roof. The PPP sources claim that yet another non-exploded bomb was fixed on a bridge which the vehicle had already crossed.

Some witnesses report there was a sizzling sound, apparently an underground wire signal for the explosive devices. Bhutto escaped, as she was protected by a 30-inch tall bullet-proof lining on the top of the truck and was reportedly descending into the vehicle's interior at the time; hence neither shrapnel nor bullets killed her. She was also protected by a "human cordon" of supporters who had anticipated suicide attacks and formed a chain around her to prevent potential bombers from getting near her. The total number of injured, according to PPP sources, stood at 1000, with at least 160 dead (The New York Times claims 134 dead and about 450 injured). The PPP lodged a complaint and FIR in protest, but was cautious in laying blame.

A few days later, Bhutto's lawyer Senator Farooq H. Naik said he received a letter threatening to kill his client. The letter also claims to have links with al-Qaeda and followers of Osama bin Laden.

Response to 2007 State of Emergency

Main article: 2007 Pakistani state of emergency

On 3 November 2007 President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency, citing actions by the Supreme Court of Pakistan and religious extremism in the nation. Bhutto returned to the country, interrupting a visit to family in Dubai. She was greeted by supporters chanting slogans at the airport. After staying in her plane for several hours she was driven to her home in Lahore, accompanied by hundreds of supporters. While acknowledging that Pakistan faced a political crisis, she noted that Musharraf's declaration of emergency, unless lifted, would make it very difficult to have fair elections. She commented that "The extremists need a dictatorship, and dictatorship needs extremists."

House arrest

On 8 November 2007, Bhutto was placed under house arrest just a few hours before she was due to lead and address a rally against the state of emergency. She made some attempts to come out of house arrest but police stopped her. All roads to her house were closed. The following day, the Pakistani government announced that Bhutto's arrest warrant had been withdrawn and that she would be free to travel and to appear at public rallies. However, leaders of other opposition political parties remained prohibited from speaking in public.

Preparation for 2008 elections

On 24 November 2007, Bhutto filed her nomination papers for January's Parliamentary elections; two days later, she filed papers in the Larkana constituency for two regular seats. She did so as former Pakistani Prime Minster Nawaz Sharif, following seven years of exile in Saudi Arabia, made his much-contested return to Pakistan and bid for candidacy.

When sworn in again on 30 November 2007, this time as a civilian president after relinquishing his post as military chief, Musharraf announced his plan to lift the Pakistan's state of emergency rule on 16 December. Bhutto welcomed the announcement and launched a manifesto outlining her party's domestic issues. Bhutto told journalists in Islamabad that her party, the Pakistan People's Party, would focus on "the five E's": employment, education, energy, environment, equality.

On 4 December 2007, Bhutto met with Nawaz Sharif to publicize their demand that Musharraf fulfill his promise to lift the state of emergency before January's parliamentary elections, threatening to boycott the vote if he failed to comply. They promised to assemble a committee which would present to Musharraf the list of demands upon which their participation in the election was contingent.

On 8 December 2007 it was reported that three unidentified gunmen stormed Mrs. Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party office in the southern western province of Baluchistan. It was confirmed by local police that three of Bhutto's supporters were killed.

Assassination

Main article: Benazir Bhutto assassination

File:Bbcnews24 bhuttokilled.jpg

Bhutto leaves her election rally, moments before the assassination.

On 27 December 2007, Benazir Bhutto was killed while entering a vehicle upon leaving a political rally for the Pakistan People's Party in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. A suicidal assassin reportedly fired shots in Bhutto's direction just prior to detonating an explosive pellet-ridden vest, killing approximately 22 people and wounding many more.

The attack occurred just after Bhutto left the rally, where she had given a campaign address to party supporters in the run-up to the January 2008 parliamentary elections. She was pronounced dead at 5:15 p.m. local time at Rawalpindi General Hospital.

Conflicting news stories led to a confusion regarding whether she suffered from gunshot wounds or received her wounds due to shrapnel. AFP quoted Javed Cheema as saying she may have been killed by pellets packed into the suicide bomber's vest. However, the AP quoted a PPP security adviser as saying she was shot in the neck and chest as she got into her vehicle, before the explosion.

Early reports from the hospital stated that Bhutto had a bullet in the back of the neck that damaged her spinal cord before exiting from the side of her head. Another bullet pierced the back of her shoulder and came out through her chest. Bhutto was given an open heart massage, but the main cause of death was damage to her spinal cord.

No official announcement has yet been made. No claims of responsibility were initially reported.

The PPP’s Makhdoom Amin Fahim stated that Bhutto could have survived the blast if she had not stood up in her vehicle. Fahim was sitting in the back seat when she was attacked. She was shot when she stood up by her vehicle’s door.

Some news reports include video purported to be Bhutto's departure from the rally, already secured in her bulletproof Toyota Mega Cruiser.

Video shows the last moments of the former Prime Minister of Pakistan. Video from the scene also shows several people being loaded into ambulances. There were quite a few cameras rolling, but as of yet, no video has been shown of the actual shooting.

Pakistan Reaction

Main article: Pakistan's reaction to the Benazir Bhutto assassination

After the assassination in particular the announcement by the PPP Spokesman there were a number of riots were 11 people have been killed. 100 cars have been burnt and rocks thrown by angry and upset supporters of Benazir Bhutto outside the hospital where she was being held.

International reaction

Main article: International reaction to the Benazir Bhutto assassination

The United Nations Security Council met in an emergency session, and subsequently stated that it "unanimously condemned" the assassination. White House spokesman Scott Stanzel condemned "the acts of violence" in the assassination. United States President George W. Bush called it a "cowardly act by murderous extremists" and said the "criminals" responsible "must be brought to justice".

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown condemned the acts saying that it was "a sad day for democracy" and "a tragic hour for Pakistan".

Australian Prime Minster Kevin Rudd joined condemnation of the act, describing it as an "evil" and "cowardly attack". He also said "Australia condemns unequivocally the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, this is an attack on the democracy of Pakistan, this is an attack on the stability of Pakistan, this is an attack on the forces for moderation in Pakistan,".

Russian president Vladimir Putin condemned the killing as a "barbarous act of terrorism". Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said "We firmly condemn this terrorist act, we express our condolences to Benazir Bhutto's relatives and loved ones, and we hope that the Pakistani leadership will manage to take necessary steps to ensure stability in the country".

The Prime Minister of neighbouring India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, expressed deep shock at the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Dr Singh stated, “The manner of her going is a reminder of the common dangers that our region faces from cowardly acts of terrorism and of the need to eradicate this dangerous threat.”

Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, said, "This was an abhorrent act of terror and we hope that [the] government of Pakistan will act to bring the perpetrators to justice. And this cannot be allowed to permit any delay in the return of Pakistan to full democracy, something the people of Pakistan have been waiting for for far too long."

Benazir Bhutto's books

• Benazir Bhutto, (1983), Pakistan: The gathering storm, Vikas Pub. House, ISBN 0706924959
• Benazir Bhutto (1989). Daughter of the East. Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 0-241-12398-4.

Daughter of the East was also released as:

• Benazir Bhutto (1989). Daughter of Destiny: An Autobiography. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-66983-4.

Books about Benazir Bhutto

• W.F.Pepper, (1983), Benazir Bhutto, WF Pepper, ISBN 0946781001
• Rafiq Zakaria (1990). The Trial of Benazir. Sangam Books. ISBN 0-861-32265-7.
• Katherine M. Doherty, Caraig A. Doherty , (1990), Benazir Bhutto (Impact Biographies Series), Franklin Watts, ISBN 0531109364
• Rafiq Zakaria, (1991), The Trial of Benazir Bhutto: An Insight into the Status of Women in Islam, Eureka Pubns, ISBN 9679783200
• Diane Sansevere-Dreher, (1991), Benazir Bhutto (Changing Our World Series), Bantam Books (Mm), ISBN 0553158570
• Christina Lamb, (1992), Waiting for Allah, Penguin Books Ltd, ISBN 0140143343
• M FATHERS, (1992), Biography of Benazir Bhutto, W.H. Allen / Virgin Books, ISBN 024554965X
• Elizabeth Bouchard, (1994), Benazir Bhutto: Prime Minister (Library of Famous Women), Blackbirch Pr Inc, ISBN 1567110274
• Iqbal Akhund, (2000), Trial and Error: The Advent and Eclipse of Benazir Bhutto, OUP Pakistan, ISBN 0195791606
• Libby Hughes, (2000), Benazir Bhutto: From Prison to Prime Minister, Backinprint.Com, ISBN 0595003885
• Iqbal Akhund, (2002), Benazir Hukoomat: Phela Daur, Kia Khoya, Kia Paya?, OUP Pakistan, ISBN 0195794214
• Mercedes Anderson, (2004), Benazir Bhutto (Women in Politics), Chelsea House Publishers, ISBN 0791077322
• Mary Englar, (2007), Benazir Bhutto: Pakistani Prime Minister and Activist, Compass Point Books, ISBN 0756517982
• Ayesha Siddiqa Agha, (2007), Military Inc.: Inside Pakistan's Military Economy, Pluto Press, ISBN 0745325459

Other related publications

• Abdullah Malik, (1988), Bhutto se Benazir tak: Siyasi tajziye, Maktabah-yi Fikr o Danish, ASIN B0000CRQJH
• Bashir Riaz, (2000), Blind justice, Fiction House, ASIN B0000CPHP8
• Khatm-i Nabuvat, ASIN B0000CRQ4A
• Mujahid Husain, ((1999)), Kaun bara bad °unvan: Benazir aur Navaz Sharif ki bad °unvaniyon par tahqiqati dastavez, Print La'in Pablisharz, ASIN B0000CRPC3
• Ahmad Ejaz, (1993), Benazir Bhutto's foreign policy: A study of Pakistan's relations with major powers, Classic, ASIN B0000CQV0Y
• Lubna Rafique, (1994), Benazir & British press, 1986-1990, Gautam, ASIN B0000CP41S
• Sayyid Afzal Haidar, (1996), Bhutto trial, National Commission on History & Culture, ASIN B0000CPBFX
• Mumtaz Husain Bazmi, (1996), Zindanon se aivanon tak, al-Hamd Pablikeshanz, ASIN B0000CRPOT
• Unknown author, (1996), Napak sazish: Tauhin-i risalat ki saza ko khatm karne ka benazir sarkari mansubah, Intarnaishnal Institiyut af Tahaffuz-i

See also

• Funeral of Benazir Bhutto
• Riots in reaction to Benazir Bhutto assassination
• Pakistan Peoples Party
• Peoples Students Federation
• Pakistan
• Politics of Pakistan
• Prime Minister of Pakistan
• Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
• Nusrat Bhutto
• Ghinwa Bhutto
• Fatima Bhutto
• Murtaza Bhutto
• Nawaz Sharif
• Malik Amjad Ali Noon

Quotes

• "I find that whenever I am in power, or my father was in power, somehow good things happen. The economy picks up, we have good rains, water comes, people have crops. I think the reason this happens was that we want to give love and we receive love."
• "I don’t fear death...I don’t think it can happen unless God wants it to happen because so many people have tried to kill me."

External links

• Benazir Bhutto official website
• Pakistan Peoples Party official website
• Template:ODP
• BBC News - Obituary: Benazir Bhutto December 27, 2007, includes links
• Pakistan Newsroom - Videos of Benazir and peoples party
• TIME images: Inside Bhutto's 'Prison'
• Benazir Bhutto Aug 15, 2007 at the Council on Foreign Relations
• Benazir Bhutto was Kurdish
• Watch Benazir's videos and interviews
• Benazir Bhutto becomes Prime Minister
• BBC News - Asif Zardari Profile
• BBC News - Bhutto cleared of corruption
• Asia Times - Bhutto on Al-Qaeda
• CNN - Musharraf blocks PPP rallies
• Pakistani opposition protests Bhutto case
• Profile
• 3 Nov. 2007 David Frost interview with Bhutto
• Witch Hunt
• Born to rule, bred to lose - US News and World Report 1990
• A Piece of Political Theatre

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