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End of a political era

By Rana Qaisar

ISLAMABAD: An extra-ordinary political era spanning over two decades ended on Thursday with the death of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto whom destiny had driven to the same city to breath her last where her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged in 1979.

Benazir Bhutto was critically injured when unknown persons opened fire on her while she was waving to her supporters from her vehicle moments after addressing a mammoth public gathering at Liaquat Bagh where Pakistan’s first prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan was killed in 1951.

Once distinguished at home and abroad as a symbol of modernity and democracy, Benazir Bhutto fought a long battle against corruption charges and returned to Pakistan in October this year after negotiating with President Pervez Musharraf to participate in the 2008 elections.

Born in 1953, Benazir Bhutto educated at Harvard and Oxford. After her father was arrested in 1977 on murder charges and put into jail following a military coup by his own-appointed Chief of Army Staff General Ziaul Haq, Benazir Bhutto too remained under arrest and went abroad in 1982 to make a historic comeback in 1986.

She had twice been prime minister of Pakistan, first from 1988 to 1990, and then from 1993 to 1996. On both occasions, her governments were dismissed on corruption allegations which were never proved in any court of law. The dismissals typified her volatile political career, which had been characterised by many vicissitudes.

Shortly after her first election, she was one of the most high-profile women leaders in the world. Young and glamorous, she successfully portrayed herself as a refreshing contrast to the overwhelmingly male-dominated political establishment in Pakistan.

Her husband Asif Ali Zardari proved highly controversial but played a prominent role in both her administrations. No corruption and criminal case against him has ever been proved in court after 10 years but he served eight years in jail.

During her self-exile from 1999 to 2007, Benazir Bhutto was a regular visitor to Western capitals, delivering lectures at universities and think-tanks and meeting government officials. She had declined a government offer to let her party head the national government after the 2002 elections, in which the party received the largest number of votes. But during the last one year, she had emerged as a strong contender for power.

Her brother Shahnawaz Bhutto died in mysterious circumstances in France in 1985 and then her second brother Murtaza Bhutto was killed in a police shoot-out in Karachi in 1996 when she was prime minister of the country.

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