Bhutto's Death
by: Craig Payton and Lynn Beavin
Benazir Bhutto, the controversial political figure and former prime minister of Pakistan, was assassinated during a political rally for her party, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), on December 27, 2007.
Bhutto grew up in a politically influential family. Her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, served as Pakistan's prime minister from 1973 to 1977. Then, as Pakistan came under martial law in 1977 under General Zia Ul Haq, Bhutto's father was imprisoned and then hanged in 1979. Bhutto was also periodically imprisoned and detained for years for her political views. Finally, Bhutto fled to London, where she formed an underground resistance to the military rule in Pakistan.
When martial law was finally lifted in Pakistan in 1986, Bhutto returned to her homeland. It was at this time that Bhutto developed into a large political figure in Pakistan, becoming the co-chairwoman of her political party the PPP.
In 1988 she was elected prime minister, becoming the first female prime minister of an Islamic country. Bhutto served multiple terms as prime minister from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996 (http://www.achievement.org/autodoc). According to Bhutto's website, http://www.benazirbhutto.org/ForignPolicies.html , the PPP supports such foreign policies as:
-Jammu and Kashmir , and Palestine
The PPP Parliamentarians supports the right of self determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir . It supports the creation of a Palestinian state which gives security to the Palestinians.
-Good Relations with its Neighbours
The PPP Parliamentarians seeks good neighbourly relations with its neighbours
The PPP Parliamentarians, without prejudice to the UN Security Counci Resolutions, supports open and safe borders at the Line of Control to socially unite the Kashmiri people. It notes that India and China have a border disputer and yet enjoy tension free relations. It seeks to reduce tensions with India through peaceful negotiations to outstanding Disputes and issues.
-South Asian Free Trade Zone
The PPP Parliamentarians supports a South Asian Free Trade Zone. It believes that such a zone can enhance markets and job opportunities as well as enable the South Asian countries to formulate consensus views for World Trade Organisation and other international bodies that are coming into being to ensure that they are supportive of the rights of the people of South Asia .
-War Against Terror
The war against terror focuses attention on the danger of rogue elements accessing nuclear systems of countries with inadequate command and control systems. The nuclear control and command centres as well as nuclear safety measures will be ensured by the PPP Parliamentarians government to allay international fears and safeguard the nuclear assets.
While in office, Bhutto was accused of assassinating her brother, and she and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, were accused of embezzling up to $1.5 billion from government accounts. Both of her terms ended in dismissal "amid a swirl of corruption charges." However, this "deeply polarizing figure, the self-styled 'daughter of Pakistan,'" has remained extraordinarily popular among her people (http://www.nytimes.com) and, facing never-ending opposition from Islamic fundamentalists, Bhutto managed to "bring electricity to the countryside and [build] schools all over the country" (http://www.achievement.org).
At dusk on December 27, 2007, just before scheduled presidential elections in Pakistan, Bhutto was assassinated after a rally in a public park. She stretched out of the sunroof of her armored car to offer supporters a final wave, when three to five gunshots fired. Immediately after, Bhutto's vehicle was attacked by a suicide bomber. Bhutto was rushed to the hospital unconscious, her aides report, never to revive. The explosion killed at least twenty people attending the rally. The Washington Post wrote that afterward that "devastated supporters smashed the hospital's glass doors and stormed the building to try to view her body." One supporter, Sher Zaman, said, "Today there is no more Pakistan... I'm seventy years old, but today I feel like an orphan" (http://www.washingtonpost.com).
Teacher Attilia Gogel says that Bhutto was "not just a symbol of democracy. Democracy has become a word like 'love'... It has become a swear word in some quarters, so trite." Instead Bhutto was "in [her] opinion, the only personality who could coalesce opposition toward Musharraf" and military control of Pakistan. The delicate balance of power between the Pakistani military, Islamic fundamentalist groups, and the political views that Bhutto represented-modernity and equality-has shifted. Now, the world waits to see what will become of Pakistan and how Pakistan's condition will affect the precarious situation in the Middle East.