Benazir Bhutto 1953-2007 by Grace Moon 12/27/07

Despite the security detail of 4,000 police and army commandos Benazir Bhutto was killed today after delivering a speech in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The former prime minister was attempting a political comeback after having lead Pakistan as PM twice before, once in 1988 and again in 1993. She was the first female prime minister of a Muslim state.

Bhutto was from a legendary political family, like the Gandhi-Nehru family of India and the Kennedys in the US. Bhutto's father Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was killed in a military coup by the Army chief General Zia-ul-Haq in 1977. Both of Bhutto's brothers were assassinated for political reasons as well.

The Bhutto family founded the Pakistan Peoples Party, the first reformist political party in Pakistan, fighting for issues such as women's rights, and the rights of the poor and oppressed. Benazir Bhutto spoke out against military dictatorship and Islamic extremism. She died giving a speech at the site where Pakistan's first prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, was assassinated in 1951.

[ed note. we recieved this message from a friend in Pakistan 12/28/07: Here is the most recent news of what happened. She delivered her speech, came down the steps and waved to her supporters. From there she got into her jeep which was bullet proof and built to survive explosions. Once the jeep started moving she got out of the car's sunroof and started waving once again to the people. Three bullets were then fired. Apparently none hit her. And then the person blew himself up. They are still speculating whether one or more people were directly involved. The shrapnels from the bomb didn't strike her either.

What happened was that she hit a lever on the right side of the sunroof as an after-effect of the explosion when she tried ducking back into the car. The firing and explosion were both done from the left side of the car. When she struck the lever, that's where the critical damage was done. Members of her party who were with her at the time say that she got back inside the car and they thought she was fine but she soon laid down. She lost conscious when she was being driven to the hospital. And she passed away at 06:16 pm.]