Benazir Bhutto’s 15th death anniversay is being observed today. Mourners and political followers are pouring into Garhi Khuda Bakhsh to pay theire respects.
The former prime minister was assassinated on December 27, 2007 in Rawalpindi, shortly after addressing a political rally. She was campaigning for general elections, in which Pakistan Peoples Party would eventually emerge as the largest party in parliament.
A rally will be held in Larkana to mark the anniversary, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is expected to address. Party workers are comign over from all over the country despite the cold.
Strict security arrangements have been made in Larkana as a large gathering of party workers is to be expected. Everyone entering the rally venue and the Bhutto mausoleum will be searched and will also be screened by walk through gates. In and around the place of the rally, 8,000 policemen will be on duty.
A mushaira will be held in the afternoon after which the rally will officially begin. Bilawal Bhutto and other major party figures are expected to address the event. Some party leaders have already arrived in Larkana.
In a video message posted on the eve of his mother’s death anniversary, Bilawal Bhutto said he draws inspiration from her heroic struggle against dictatorship extremism.
He added that benazir was the symbol of the federation and that he would continue her mission to end poverty, hunger and unemployement in the country.
“15 years on and the wound still hasn’t healed. Pakistan is so much poorer for your loss,” Aseefa Bhutto Zardari wrote on Twitter.
Benzair Bhutto was born on June 21, 1953. She was the daughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan. Her name means ‘unmatched’ or ‘without parallel’.
After seeing her father going to the gallows when she was only 25, Benazir was the one who would step to fight for his political legacy. At 29, she would became the leader of the Pakistan People’s Party. At 35, she became the first female prime minister in a muslim country.
She went into exile twice, first during Zia’s and then during Musharraf’s martial law. On her second return in 2007, she was targeted in a bomb blast in Karachi which killed 200 people but survived. She was attacked and assassinated in December.
