“The people of Pakistan had rejected bigotry and prejudice in electing a woman Prime Minister. It was an enormous honor, and an equally enormous responsibility… I had not asked for this role; I had not asked for this mantle. But the forces of destiny and the forces of history had thrust me forward, and I felt privileged and awed.”

Benazir Bhutto — Autobiography

Benazir Bhutto takes her oath in 1988 as the first Muslim Woman Prime Minister of any Muslim State.

Benazir Bhutto, twice Prime Minister of Pakistan (1988–1990 & 1993–1996) and then-leader of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party, had been campaigning ahead of elections scheduled for January 2008. Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27 2007 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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In May 2007, Bhutto had asked for additional protection from foreign contracting agencies Blackwater and the British firm ArmorGroup.

The United Nations’ investigation of the incident revealed that, “Ms. Bhutto’s assassination could have been prevented if adequate security measures had been taken.”

On February 8 2008, investigators from Scotland Yard concluded that Benazir Bhutto died after hitting her head as she was tossed by the force of a suicide blast, not from an assassin’s bullet.

However, as quoted in an article in The New York Times:

“It is unclear how the Scotland Yard investigators reached such conclusive findings absent autopsy results or other potentially important evidence that was washed away by cleanup crews in the immediate aftermath of the blast.”

Bhutto anticipated that three senior allies of President Musharraf were out to kill her in a secret email to Foreign Secretary David Miliband written weeks before her death.

On December 30 2007, Scotland on Sunday quoted MI5 sources saying that factions of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence may be responsible for the assassination

On January 18 2008, CIA Director Michael Hayden claimed that Baitullah Mehsud — a tribal leader in north-western Pakistan — and his network  was responsible.

On August 20 2013 ex-President Pervez Musharraf, was indicted on three chargers for murder, conspiracy to murder, and facilitation of murder in connection with his alleged failure to provide adequate security for Bhutto.

On August 31 2017, a Pakistani anti-terrorism court declared Musharraf a fugitive in Bhutto’s murder.

The court also acquitted five suspected Pakistani Taliban of conspiracy to murder for lack of evidence and two high-ranking police officers who had been sentenced to 17 years in prison.

On December 16 2019, Musharraf, in exile for hospitalization in Dubai, was sentenced to death in Pakistan in absentia for high treason.

Who assassinated ex-Pakistan leader Benazir Bhutto?- BBC News

REFERENCES

Benazir Bhutto — Wikipedia

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On This Day — Benazir Bhutto Is Assassinated (December 27 2007)

On This Day — Benazir Bhutto Is Assassinated (December 27 2007) [2019]