Benazir Bhutto Gunned Down

December 27th, 2007 by SWARAAJ CHAUHAN, International Columnist

It is a sad day in the history of Pakistan. Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister and the opposition leader, was assassinated Thursday in a suicide bombing that also killed at least 20 others at a campaign rally, reports AP and BBC.

Bhutto is survived by her husband Asif Ali Zardari and their three children: Bilawal, Bakhtwar, and Aseefa.

Benazir Bhutto was born in Karachi, Dominion of Pakistan on June 21, 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 from 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 B.A. 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.

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.

More here.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 27th, 2007 at 8:15 am and is filed under Benazir Bhutto, Foreign Politics, Pakistan. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

3 responses about “Benazir Bhutto Gunned Down”

DLS said:
December 27th, 2007 at 9:10 am
I figured you would be among those to write about this subject on here. World news is not important to many in the public but is followed closely here.
Global Voices Online » Pakistan: Bhutto’s Death and Impending Elections said:
December 27th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
[…] The Moderate Voice has a bio on Benazir Bhutto, including information on her father who was also the Prime Minister of Pakistan, and was sentenced to death in the 70s for charges similar to the ones Benazir faced much later. […]
Goodbye, Benazir : Blogworld said:
December 29th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
[…] The Moderate Voice has a bio on Benazir Bhutto, including information on her father who was also the Prime Minister of Pakistan, and was sentenced to death in the 70s for charges similar to the ones Benazir faced much later. […]

« R.I.P. Benazir Bhutto

Hoagie Carmichael: An Appreciation »

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