Nation remembers Benazir Bhutto on her 12th death anniversary

RAWALPINDI: The 12th death anniversary of first ever female prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto is being observed today (Friday), ARY News reported.

All arrangements have been finalized as Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) will hold a rally at Liaquat Bagh today (Friday) on her death place to mark the 12th death anniversary of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other party leaders have reached Rawalpindi to attend the ceremony today.

The renowned leader was assassinated after addressing an electoral rally at Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh on December 27, 2007.

Benazir was born on 21st June 1953 in Karachi to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Nusrat Bhutto. She belonged to an influential political family which became a dynasty in Pakistan.

She left for the esteemed Harvard University at the age of 16 to pursue her higher education. After receiving her undergraduate degree at Harvard, she got enrolled in England’s Oxford University.

At the age of 35, Benazir Bhutto was elected the Prime Minister of Pakistan after Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) emerged victorious in the polls. She holds the honor to be the first woman Head of Government of any Muslim country.

Benazir’s assassination 

Weeks before the general elections in the country in 2007, she was targeted in a gun and bomb attack when she was returning after addressing an election rally at Liaquat Bagh of Rawalpindi.

The attack, in which she was killed with scores of her party activists, jolted the political landscape of the country and triggered a frenzy of anarchy and arson attacks that resulted in billions of rupees loss to the country.

Benazir Bhutto is considered one of the most dynamic figures in the world politics and her struggle for democracy was posthumously honored and acknowledged in the world.