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Not a story we’ve been following heavily here, but in the past months Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan, had been campaigning as the opposition party leader against President Pervez Musharraf.

Educated at Oxford and Harvard, she became the first female prime minister of a Muslim country when she took the helm in Pakistan in 1988, only to lose office and flee Pakistan for most of a decade in the face of accusations she was corrupt.

When she finally returned from self-imposed exile in October 2007 to marshal the opposition against President Pervez Musharraf, her homecoming parade in Karachi was targeted by a suicide attacker. More than 140 people were killed in the attack, but the 54-year-old Bhutto escaped injury and threw herself into the campaign.

Her father had founded the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and served as President and then Prime Minister from 71-77, at which time a military coup removed him from office.  In 79 he was executed.  Prior to his execution he sent his daughter, Benazir, to Harvard followed by Oxford to study politics, and upon her return to Pakistan following his death she became leader of the PPP, before being exiled to England in 1984.  In 86 she returned and in 88 was elected Prime Minister.  After charges of corruption, she was removed, reinstated, and removed again from power from 1990-96.  In 99 she was sentenced to 5 years in jail along with her husband, but the conviction was overturned.  She chose to stay outside of Pakistan at this time, and continued the self-imposed exile until 2006. 

In 2006 she joined an Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy with her arch-rival Sharif, but the two disagreed over strategy for dealing with military president Pervez Musharraf. Bhutto decided it was better to negotiate with Musharraf, while Sharif refused to have any dealings with the general.

Bhutto returned to Pakistan in October 2007 from eight years of self-imposed exile after Musharraf, with whom she had been negotiating over Pakistan’s transition to civilian-led democracy, granted her protection from prosecution in old corruption cases.

The attacker struck shortly after Bhutto addressed supporters in Rawalpindi, 8 miles south of Islamabad. She received gunshot wounds to the chest and neck, and after firing, the attacker blew himself up. 

After her death was announced, Bhutto’s supporters at the hospital exploded in anger, smashing the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit. Others burst into tears. One man with a flag of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party tied around his head was beating his chest.

“I saw her with my own eyes sitting in a vehicle after addressing the rally. Then, I heard an explosion,” Tahir Mahmood, 55, said sobbing. “I am in shock. I cannot believe that she is dead.”

Many chanted slogans against Musharraf, accusing him of complicity in her killing.

Musharraf, who announced three days of mourning for Bhutto, urged calm.

“I want to appeal to the nation to remain peaceful and exercise restraint,” he said.

Nawaz Sharif, another former prime minister and leader of a rival opposition party had the following to say:

“Benazir Bhutto was also my sister, and I will be with you to take the revenge for her death,” he said. “Don’t feel alone. I am with you. We will take the revenge on the rulers.”

He rebutted suggestions that he could gain political capital from her demise, announcing his Muslim League-N party would boycott the elections and demanding that Musharraf resign.

“The holding of fair and free elections is not possible in the presence of Pervez Musharraf,” he said. “Musharraf is the cause of all the problems. The federation of Pakistan cannot remain intact in the presence of President Musharraf,” he told a news conference.

“After the killing of Benazir Bhutto, I announce that the Pakistan Muslim League-N will boycott the elections,” Sharif said. “I demand that Musharraf should quit immediately.”

What will come of the looming elections remains to be seen, but it is clear that the volatile situation in Pakistan is far from resolved.

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