I did not originally plan to come back to blogging until the start of the new year, but that idea was scrapped when I pulled up the Internet today. The Embarq start page I was presented with told me that Benazir Bhutto, former Pakistani prime minister, had been assassinated.

Unfortunately, Embarq didn't have that much to say about how this happened, so I went to my trusted New York Times, and indeed found what I was looking for. According to the article, she was shot by a gunman and was hit by shrapnel from a suicide bomb attack.

I have been following Bhutto's campaign for some time now; for those who have followed my blog, you may remember back in November when I commented on the former leader's house arrest. Now, it is recognized that the Middle East is an unstable area, so I found it a little worrying when I heard that she had returned. However, it showed me that she was trying her best to help her struggling homeland, and it struck me that she still had hope. I now present to you Benazir Bhutto: A Life and Legacy.

Early Life

Bhutto was born June 21, 1953 (4), the oldest child of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, also a former Pakistani prime minister, who was later hung on charges of murder (1). Young Bhutto grew up in Karachi, the capital of the Sindh province (2). She went to, in chronological order: Lady Jennings Nursery School, Covent of Jesus and Mary, and Rawalpindi Presentation Covent, which she attended for two years, after which she was sent to the Jesus and Mary Convent in Murree. She was accepted at Harvard's Radcliffe College in 1969 and graduated in 1973. Later that same year, she joined Oxford Univerisity (3).

Entrance to Politics

Bhutto's first political position was as an advisor to her father in 1976, though she had initially requested joining the Foreign Service (3). After a matter of mere days, the military took over the government, and her father was arrested and proceeded to be hung in 1979 by General Zia Ul Haq (4). After several imprisonments and being detained for three years, Bhutto finally left the country in 1984, after which she went into exile in England. Her younger brother Shah Nawaz, who helped to found an "underground organization" to resist the dictatorship, died later that year in Paris; on attending his funeral in Pakistan, Bhutto was again arrested for participating in anti-government rallies.

Prime Minister Bhutto

Along with her mother, Bhutto was elected co-chairwoman of the Pakistani People's Party, commonly referred to as the P.P.P. She became the first woman to serve as a prime minister in an Islamic country when she was elected Prime Minister in the free elections in 1988 - she was also one of the youngest chief executives of a country, aged 35. However, she was dismissed from office two years after her monumental victory. She was re-elected in 1993. During this term, she seeked to modernize the country by building schools and bringing in electricity. She was again dismissed on charges of "mismanagement" (4).

Return of 2007

In October 2007, Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan for the last time. Upon her return, a suicide bomber targeted her convoy; she survived the attack. Nonetheless, she began building up a strong campaign to become prime minister once more. Now, what originally brought my attention to Bhutto was the planned rally at Liaquat Park (5). Bhutto had planned to attend the rally, but was put on house arrest by the Pakistani government, run as it still is by General Pervez Musharraf. The seemingly flimsy excuse at the time was that the rally was illegal under the emergency rule (which has since been lifted). After some time, Musharraf declared that there would be free elections in January (4). Many felt that Bhutto had an almost assured victory, and would once again become Prime Minister.

December 27, 2007 - Rawalpindi, Pakistan

According to the reports I've read, an armed gunman shot Bhutto in the head while she was in a car leaving a rally; the same man reportedly then set off his suicide bomb, which killed many bystanders. After being rushes to a nearby hospital, Bhutto was pronounced dead at 6:16 pm Pakistani time (6).

1. Z. A. Bhutto

2. Karachi                                                                                                          

3. Benazir Bhutto                                                                                             

4. Benazir Bhutto - Biography                                                                            

5. House Arrest                                                                                               

6. NYTimes, Bhutto Assassination

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Bhutto's death has reportedly set off waves of protests across Pakistan, and I don't blame the protesters. I see Benazir Bhutto as being a visionary, determined to do all in her power to help her struggling country. She bravely risked her life, coming back to Pakistan. When she came back in October, it seemed to me not a matter of "if" she was to be assassinated, but "when."

She has left quite a legacy behind her, and she will definitely be missed.