Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was born on 21 June 1953 in Karachi. She was the first child of her parents, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Begum Nusrat Bhutto. She was given the name of an aunt of hers who had died young. She was five when her father became the cabinet minister for energy, and when she was nine General Ayub Khan made Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the country’s foreign minister. From an early age, Mohtarma was exposed to foreign diplomats and figures who were visiting her father, including Zhou Enlai, Henry Kissinger, and Hubert Humphrey as she had a keen interest in politics since childhood. From 1969 to 1973, she completed her undergraduate degree at Harvard University.
In 1974, she reached Lahore to accompany her father at the OIC summit where she was introduced to a number of the senior Muslim world leaders including Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, Egypt’s Anwar Sadat, Syria’s Hafez al-Assad, Saudi Arabia’s Faisal, and Jordan’s Hussein. After the completion of her Post Graduate degree, she returned to Pakistan in June 1977 and assisted her father who had just sworn in as the Prime Minister and she joined the Prime Minister’s office to pursue a career in the Pakistani Foreign Service. Mohtarma was forced into politics after her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was assassinated. He was the one who laid the foundation of true democracy and justice in Pakistan and became the victim of brutal injustice in the hands of the worst dictator in the history of Pakistan, General Zia Ul Haq.
He was an unmatched national leader and statesman who revived a broken nation after the disaster of the fall of Dhaka by bringing back 90,000 prisoners of war. The enemies of Pakistan had no choice other than eliminating him after he refused the rollback of Pakistan’s nuclear programme despite the threat of making him a “horrible example”.
General Zia Ul Haq was a puppet of the CIA which had hatched a plan to block communism, using Islam through him. The world knows today how he preached his own brand of Islam wherein he promoted extremism, fanaticism, sectarianism, and all kind of criminals under the name of Jihad. These extremists and criminal elements were brought and nourished by the USA in Pakistan for launching them in Afghanistan to operate. The then director CIA W. J Casey has disclosed the details of the meeting in his memoirs where, inter alia, CIA Director W. J Casey narrates as to how Gen. Zia was recruited while he was specially posted.
Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had great plans for betterment of common man in Pakistan
Zia ul Haq and the Chief Justice who had passed the judgment for sentence even celebrated and shamelessly received greetings for his death. They killed and buried the Bhutto legacy but his courageous daughter, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, the first woman prime minister of the Muslim world, marked the political rebirth of her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s legacy. She suffered the most in the hands of Zia ul Haq and his remnants but eventually, she witnessed the crashing of C-130B Hercules aircraft.
The series of brutality and injustice did not end here as the victimisation continued and the world witnessed how PPP suffered after the hanging of Z A Bhutto as the enemies of Bhuttos did not spare his children too. The youngest son of Shaheed Bhutto who was named after his father’s name as Shah Nawaz Bhutto was also mysteriously killed following the scare this family gave to the enemies of this nation. He was just 27 years old when he was found dead in Cannes, France. He died under mysterious circumstances and assisted by French police, along with my team, I investigated this case and it was proved beyond doubt that he was poisoned in Cannes in the South of France. The under-trial suspect was his wife who was sent to the USA ignoring the legal system of France and the matter is still pending in the trial court.
Mir Murtaza Bhutto, the elder son of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was also not spared as just like his other brother he was abroad when the military authorities hanged Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He along with his brother started an international campaign to save his father, which failed. His political popularity in Sindh slowly started gathering pace. On September 20, 1996, he along with his six-party workers was shot dead in a suspected police encounter in Karachi. The killing of the then SHO is still a mystery.
The first-ever elected woman Prime Minister of Pakistan and the Islamic world, Mohtarama Benazir Bhutto was a true reflection of her father, plunged into this vast sea of blood and had to swim against the tide adding another permanent page in the book of the legacy of Bhuttos till she fulfilled her promise with her father. She contested elections and became Prime Minister twice, first from 1988 to 1990 and faced courts fighting against various false and fabricated allegations by her opponents and then from 1993 to 1996. Many fake cases were instituted against her, her husband, and others included against me, and the pressure was exerted on me to become approver against her and Asif Ali Zardari. I even declined to become the Deputy Head of Accountability Bureau but preferred to go to jail on fake petty charges and spent over a year in jail and eventually had to go to exile after a life attempt on me.
She still rules the hearts of the people of this country. Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto just like her father led her party like a mother and a true guardian. Under her leadership, the party had a strong foothold despite not being in the govt for years.
Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had great plans for the betterment of the common man in Pakistan as she used to discuss with me and other party leaders about her future national plan. I found her very brave and a great negotiator and her arguments were always undeniable and I remember her last sentence which she said to General Musharraf when he suggested not to come back to Pakistan before the Elections of 2007 to which she responded, “General! The decision to go back to my country is mine and not yours and I will choose my own timing to go back to my people and you or nobody to suggest about my return.” Similarly, she faced the decision given by an accountability court headed by a judge of the High court bravely.
Despite being busy she always devoted time to her children Bilawal, Bakhtawar, and Aseefa; whenever they were in the UK she took them to historical places, parks for a picnic, and even she used to teach them herself. I wish and pray that the beloved children of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto will carry the legacy of their grandfather and mother by serving the people of Pakistan.
Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was passionate and caring for her husband President Asif Ali Zardari; every evening she used to recite Sura Yasin and blow through the telephone while talking to Asif Ali Zardari while he was in jail and subsequently, when he shifted to the US. President Asif Ali Zardari has been equally suffering from state aggression and by some of the political forces but yet we see him smiling and not being rude to those in whose hands he suffered.
I am glad that I have served with great Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Begum Nusrat Bhutto, and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto in my humble capacity as Director and DG FIA and subsequently political advisor while she was in exile. Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto trusted three of us; Ambassador Shamsul Hassan, Riaz Bashir, and me during her exile
Let us pray to Almighty Allah for the departed soul of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and other departed souls of the entire family members for their high places in Jannah and I am hopeful and pray that there are no more sufferings for the Bhutto family which has already suffered very heavily both in terms of sacrifices of lives and political stakes.
It must be mentioned here that there are some wrong perceptions that terrorists involved in her murder couldn’t identify while as matter of fact the investigation into the murders of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was done with full dedication by the officially announced by JIT. The main conspirators, handlers, and executors all were identified and many were arrested and some were killed mysteriously.
I will conclude this with her historical expressions in her own words; “I have led an unusual life. I have buried a father killed at age 50 and two brothers killed in the prime of their lives. I raised my children as a single mother when my husband was arrested and held for eight years without a conviction—a hostage to my political career.”
“Pakistan’s future viability, stability, and security lie in empowering its people and building political institutions. My goal is to prove that the fundamental battle for the hearts and minds of a generation can be accomplished only under democracy”.
“Whether or not the rulers allow me to take part in the elections, I will return home at any cost, not for the reason that I want to become prime minister.... (but because) I owe to the nation to fulfil my pledge I have made to it”.
Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto! The nation and all of us workers will always miss you and your absence in the party will always be felt.