Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan's former prime minister, was assassinated Thursday in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The assassination took place during a Pakistan Peoples Party campaign rally in the Liaquat National Bagh.
The suicide bombing killed at least 20 others and comes just two weeks after Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf lifted the state of emergency that had been placed on the country.
Bhutto was an ally to democracy who was against the jihadism of extremist Muslims and her stance on women's rights was world renowned.
Bhutto, the youngest person and first female to lead a Muslim nation, was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who served as President from 1971 to 1973. Ali Bhutto was also Foreign Minister from 1963 to 1967 and Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1973 to 1977.
In 1967, Ali Bhutto founded the Pakistan Peoples Party, which Benazir became the head of. He was executed in 1978 following a trial for charges that he ordered the murder of a political opponent.
Benazir graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University in 1973 with a degree in comparative goverment. She then studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Lady Margaret Hall of the University of Oxford in Great Britain, where she graduated in 1977.
In 1987, she married Asif Ali Zardari, a marriage arranged by her mother. The couple had three children together: Bilawal, Bakhtwar, and Aseefa.
In 1988, Bhutto became Prime Minister of Pakistan, a position she would serve twice. Both of her terms were dismissed due to corruption charges. Her husband, Asif Ali Zadari, served eight years in jail while Bhutto served five years due to money laundering charges in Switzerland.
Bhutto recently returned in October from her eight-year exile in Dubai and London. Her homecoming parade in Karachi was also targeted by a suicide attacker, killing more than 140 people. On that occasion she narrowly escaped injury.
While in exile, President Musharraf amended Pakistan's constitution to ban prime ministers from serving more than two terms, disqualifying Bhutto from ever holding the office again. This move was widely considered to be a direct attack on Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, another former prime minister.
For more world news, please check out http://news.finditt.com/NewsList.aspx?cat=11&wcat=1
