ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other Pakistani leaders on Friday paid tribute to Benazir Bhutto, the first woman prime minister in the Muslim world who was assassinated 17 years ago in a gun and bomb attack after a rally in the city of Rawalpindi.
Bhutto, born on Jun. 21, 1953, was elected premier for the first time in 1988 at the age of 35. She was deposed in 1990, re-elected in 1993, and ousted again in 1996 amid charges of corruption and mismanagement, which she denied as being politically motivated.
Bhutto only entered politics after her father was hanged in 1979 during military ruler Gen. Zia-ul-Haq’s reign. Throughout her political career, she had a complex and often adversarial relationship with the now ruling Sharif family, but despite the differences signed a ‘Charter of Democracy’ in 2006 with three-time former PM Nawaz Sharif, with a pledge to strengthen democratic institutions and prevent military interventions in Pakistan in the future. She was assassinated a year and a half later.
“Today, we commemorate the 17th anniversary of the martyrdom of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto,” PM Shehbaz Sharif, who is Nawaz’s younger brother, said in a post on X. “A champion of democracy, and a staunch advocate of the power of dialogue and reconciliation in the political process, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto remains an icon of courage and resilience.”
President Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto’s widower, urged the nation to draw inspiration from the late premier and work to realize her “dream of a peaceful, progressive, and democratic Pakistan.”
“On this day, we honor a leader who embodied the very spirit of hope, resilience, and unwavering commitment to the ideals of democracy and justice,” he was quoted as saying by Radio Pakistan.
“Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was a trailblazer who dreamt of a Pakistan where the rights of all citizens, irrespective of color, class and creed, would be protected.”
Powerful families from the Bhuttos and Sharifs of Pakistan to the Gandhis of India and the Bandaranaike family of Sri Lanka have dominated politics in this diverse region since independence from British colonial rule. But none have escaped tragedy at the hands of rebels, militants or ambitious military leaders.
It was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who founded the troubled Bhutto dynasty, becoming the country’s first popularly elected prime minister before being toppled by the army in 1977 and later hanged. Both his sons died in mysterious circumstances.
Before her assassination on Dec. 27, 2007, Bhutto survived another suicide attack on her motorcade that killed nearly 150 people as she returned to Pakistan after eight years in exile in October 2007.
Bhutto’s Oxford-educated son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, 36, is now leading her Pakistan Peoples Party, founded by her father, and was foreign minister in the last administration of Shehbaz Sharif.
Pakistan has been ruled by military regimes for almost half its history since independence from Britain in 1947. Both former premier Imran Khan and the elder Sharif, Nawaz, have alleged that they were ousted by the military after they fell out with the generals. The army says it does not interfere in politics.
