Shaheed Benazir Bhutto: A legendary personality
Shaheed Benazir Bhutto got the honour to be the first woman prime Minister of a Muslim country. She was young when she was popularly elected as the outstanding leader of the people of Pakistan and assumed the responsibilities as the Prime Minister. She proved her capabilities by leading the country and the people surprising the whole world with her political and diplomatic skills. In most part of the world, Pakistan was identified with her name as Prime Minister. In no time, she had developed her influence on the world scene bringing people and countries closer to Pakistan using the style of people’s diplomacy.
Benazir Bhutto remained Prime Minister of Pakistan twice. She led the popular masses and won popular votes from all corners of Pakistan. Being a popular leader of the broad masses, she attracted large crowd on special occasions. When returned from forced exile for the first time in 1986, more than 1.8 million people gathered at the Lahore Airport to greet the most outstanding leader of the people of Pakistan. When she came to Karachi, more than two million people gathered at the Karachi Airport to greet Shaheed Benazir Bhutto.
She was again forced to leave the country following unceremonious dismissal of her Government by former President Farooq Leghari on concocted charges. When she returned before the scheduled general elections during the military regime of General Pervez Musharraf, again, more than two million people gathered at the Karachi Airport to greet the greatest leader.
In the course of controversy, the military regime of General Pervez Musharraf was afraid of the huge public gatherings and advised her to avoid holding mass public rallies, public meetings and demonstrations during the election campaign. She contemptuously rejected it as she considered the huge gathering as symbol of real political power of any party or leader and she would continue to lead such processions.
For her defiance, the enemies of the people of Pakistan targeted her and made the first serious attempt on her life by exploding a huge car bomb when the huge procession reached close to Karsaz in Karachi. More that 180 innocent people, all PPP workers, were martyred and hundreds of others injured, score of them maimed. But such cowardly attacked did not deter the great leader to stop his close links with her people at any stage of history. She continued her political campaign in all parts of Pakistan. The second attack was planned when she was in Lahore. Finally, the assassins succeeded in Rawalpindi when she addressed the huge public meeting at Liaquat Bagh.