Daily Times

Benazir’s killers will be exposed, Babar Awan tells NA
Parliamentary affairs minister vows government will abolish NAB

By Zulfiqar Ghuman
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Senator Dr Babar Awan vowed on Thursday the killers of Benazir Bhutto would be exposed and taken to task.

“We have finalised the draft to be handed over to UN secretary-general on his visit to Pakistan on February 4 on the investigations into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. We want impartial and credible investigations, that’s why we had approached the UN for these investigations,” he said in his speech on the presidential address to parliament last year. “We approached the UN for investigations as we want the political and democratic revenge for her murder,” he added.

Paying tributes to Benazir, he said she was the only voice in the Muslim world who had called for reconciliation between Muslims and the West. “She was a leader of international stature and we want investigations of that stature,” he said.

The House also passed a motion of gratitude to the president for his address to a joint sitting of parliament.

Responding to PML-N members’ concern about the possible disqualification of their leader Nawaz Sharif, Babar Awan said that following the spirit of Charter of Democracy (CoD) the government has decided to do away with the notorious National Accountability Bureau to do away with the politics of revenge in the country.

“The inter-ministerial committee has finalised a draft bill in this regard. The bill will soon be presented before the cabinet for approval. This will wipe out the politics of revenge. There will be no NAB laws, courts and prosecutors any more,” he announced.

The minister said no politicians would be disqualified under NAB laws. “There will be no unilateral action against any politicians. Now a parliamentary committee having equal representation from the treasury and the opposition and the National Assembly and the Senate will make decisions in this regard,” he said.

He said that President Zardari had revived the constitutional and parliamentary tradition in the country and hoped that it would continue in future, as “democracy is the future of Pakistan”.

“Fourty-two members took part in the debate on presidential address and it is a welcome sign for democracy,” he said.

Earlier, the opposition members, especially legislators from the PML-N criticised the government and the president for backtracking on promises made regarding the restoration of sacked judges and the repeal of the 17th Amendment.

They said they would go to any extent in protest, including resigning from the assemblies.

However, they said they extended the hand of cooperation to the PPP once again provided it agrees to implementing the CoD in letter and spirit. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Rana Tanvir and Tehmina Daultana spoke for the PML-N. Farzana Raja, Nafisa Shah and Syed Salahuddin Shah spoke for the PPP.

Raza Hayat Hiraj from the PML-Q demanded that a new province should be created that includes districts of south Punjab.

Ijaz Virk of the PPP criticised the government, especially the ministers, for ignoring party members. Maulvi Asmatullah and Kamran Khan, both from FATA, also spoke.

Tehmina Daultana wanted to walk out in protest when speaker Dr Fahmeeda Mirza refused to allow her to speak on a point of order, but her party members persuaded her to stay. The NA speaker noticed that some legislators had formed groups and were chatting. She told them to bring order in the Houshttp://.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\01\30\story_30-1-2009_pg7_18e and listen to the members who were speaking.
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Fatima may contest on aunt Benazir's seat in next polls

Islamabad (PTI): Fatima Bhutto, the fiery niece of slain former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto, is expected to contest on her late aunt's seat in the next general elections.

Sindh National Front (SNF) chief Mumtaz Ali Bhutto, who is the cousin of late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, has said that Fatima would run from Larkana in the next general elections, media reports here said.

The seat was won by Benazir Bhutto in all elections between 1988 and 1997 and is now being held by President Asif Ali Zardari's sister Faryal Talpur.

Mumtaz Bhutto said Fatima, Zulfikar Junior, children of Benazir's brother Murtaza and Sassui Bhutto (daughter of Benazir's brother Shahnawaz) were the real political heirs of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's family "as Zardaris cannot become Bhutto just by changing their caste," the Dawn newspaper quoted him as saying.

He hinted at the early merger of the SNF and the Pakistan People's Party-SB, which is led by Ghinwa Bhutto, Fatima's stepmother.

A new chapter on struggle with people's support would be written with the merger of two parties, he said.

About his arrest on charges of attack on a newspaper's office, Mumtaz said: "I believe in the freedom of press, so I could not even think of a plan to attack a newspaper".

He alleged that the President's House was behind sending him to jail and not the media.

source for : http://hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200901311436.htm

Benazir Bhutto killed in attack

Pakistani former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated in a suicide attack.

Ms Bhutto - the first woman PM in an Islamic state - was leaving an election rally in Rawalpindi when a gunman shot her in the neck and set off a bomb. \

At least 20 other people died in the attack and several more were injured.
President Pervez Musharraf has urged people to remain calm but angry protests have gripped some cities, with at least 11 deaths reported.
Security forces have been placed on a state of "red alert" nationwide.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack. Analysts believe Islamist militants to be the most likely group behind it.

. It was the second suicide attack against her in recent months and came amid a wave of bombings targeting security and government officials.

Nawaz Sharif, also a former prime minister and a political rival, announced his Muslim League party would boycott the elections.
He called on President Musharraf to resign, saying free and fair elections were not possible under his rule.
The United Nations Security Council held an emergency session and later said it "unanimously condemned" the assassination.

Publications

Benazir Bhutto is the author of two books "Foreign Policy in Perspective" (1978) and her autobiography, "Daughter of the East" (1989). Several collections of her speeches and works have been compiled which include "The Way Out", Pakistan Foreign Policy, Challenges and Responses in the Post-Cold War era in "After the Cold War" by Keith Philip Lepor and Male Domination of Women offends her Islamic religion in "Lend Me Your ears: Great Speeches in History" by William Saffire. "The Way Out" (1980). She has also contributed to many periodicals and to the books, "Predictions for the Next Millennium" by Kristof and Nickerson and "Book of Hopes and Dreams" published by Bookmaster Inc.
AWARDS AND HONORARY DRGREES
Bruno Kreisky Award of Merit in human Rights, 1988.
Honorary Phi Beta Kappa Award (1989), presented by Radcliffe College.
Highest Moroccan Award "Grand Cordon de Wissam Alaoui"
Highest French Award "Grand-croix de la Legion Honneur" (1989)
The Noel Foundation Award, 1990 (UNIFEM).
The Gakushuin Honorary Award, Tokyo (1996)
Award by the Turkish Independent Industries and Businessmen Association (MUSAID) on account of providing assistance to the people of Bosnia.
Golden medal Dragon of Bosnia awarded by President of Bosnia (1996)
Key to the city of Los Angeles, presented by the Mayor of Los Angeles (1995)
Presidential Medal, Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Science (1995)
Medal by University of California at Los Angeles (1995)
Honorary Doctorate of Law, L.L.D Harvard University (1989)
Honorary Doctorate of Law (Honoris Causa), University of Sindh (1994)
Honorary Doctorate from Mendanao State University, Philippines (1995)
Honorary Doctorate of Law (Honoris Causa), Peshawar University (1995)
Honorary Doctorate of Economics, Gakushuin University, Tokyo (1996)
Honorary Fellowship by Lady Margaret Hall, University Oxford, (1989)
Honorary Fellowship by St. Catherine College, University of Oxford, (1989)
Honorary Professor of the Kyrghyz State National University (1995) Kyrghyzstan.
Honorary Professor of Yassavi Kazakh Turkish University, Kazakh-Turkish International Language University, Kazakhstan, 1995.
Honorable Member of OHYUKAI, Alumni Association of Gakushuin, conferred by OHYUKAI Tokyo (1996).
Awarded the 2000 Millennium Medal of Honor by American Biographical Institute, Inc. in November 1998. Awarded American Academy Award of Achievement in London, October 28, 2000

Benazir Bhutto 1953 _2007

Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007), Pakistani political leader, who served as first female prime minister of a Muslim country, she served for Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1996.
Born into a wealthy landholding family with a tradition of political activism in southeastern Sindh province, Bhutto enjoyed a privileged childhood
Bhutto was educated at Harvard's Radcliffe College in the United States and at the University of Oxford in England, where she excelled in studies as well as other activities including debating competitions, she was the first Asian woman to be elected president of the Oxford Union. The daughter of a intelligent and Charismatic Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (1971-1977), she returned to Pakistan in june 1977, planning on a career in the foreign service. But only two weeks later, however, military officers led by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq , capitalizing on public protests of disputed parliamentary elections overthrew Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in a bloodless coup. Benazir Bhutto spent the next eighteen months in and out of house arrest as she struggled to rally political support to force Zia to drop fallacious murder charges against her father. The military dictator ignored worldwide appeals for clemency and had Zulfikar Bhutto hanged in April of 1979.

Bhutto's persecution began in earnest after the dismissal of her father's government in 1977 and his execution in 1979 as she intensified her denunciations of Zia and sought to organize a political movement against him. Repeatedly put under house arrest, she was finally imprisoned under solitary confinement in a desert cell in Sindh province during the summer of 1981. Bhutto described the hellish conditions in her wall less cage in "Daughter of Destiny":
"The summer heat turned my cell into an oven. My skin split and peeled, coming off my hands in sheets. Boils erupted on my face. My hair, which had always been thick, began to come out by the handful. Insects crept into the cell like invading armies. Grasshoppers, mosquitoes, stinging flies, bees and bugs came up through the cracks in the floor and through the open bars from the courtyard. Big black ants, cockroaches, seething clumps of little red ants and spiders. I tried pulling the sheet over my head at night to hide from their bites, pushing it back when it got too hot to breathe."
Released in 1984, she went into exile in Britain until 1986, when martial law was lifted in Pakistan.She returned with a huge crowd numbering in the hundreds of thousands turned out on the streets to greet her, by then the leading symbol of the anti-Zia movement, when she returned to Lahore in April of 1986. Formally elected chair in the following month, Bhutto lost no time in organising mass protests and civil disobedience campaigns to pressure Zia to relinquish office and call national elections. Bhutto's stirring oratory, familiar name, and striking appearance helped give her a strong mass appeal, but she had to struggle to wrest real power from the PPP's old-guard leadership, members of which were wary of her gender, youth, and political wisdom. Supported by tumultuous crowds, Bhutto again called for fresh elections, resulting in another short prison term that same year. She also had to contend with internal dissension among the anti-Zia forces
In July 1993, the President of Pakistan dismissed the Government of Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif on corruption charges and called for fresh elections. The Pakistan Peoples Party went to the people in October, 1993 with a new "Agenda for Change". The programme envisaged government at the door-step of the people and priority to the social sectors. Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was again elected Prime Minister with a broad mandate after achieving strong popular support in all the four provinces of Pakistan.
Bhutto's platform has been leftist, including food for the hungry, health care, jobs, slum clearance and a monthly minimum wage.
She has been opposed by Islamic fundamentalists who have been suspicious of the PPP because of its alleged leftist.

In July 1993, the President of Pakistan dismissed the Government of Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif on corruption charges and called for fresh elections. The Pakistan Peoples Party went to the people in October, 1993 with a new "Agenda for Change". The programme envisaged government at the door-step of the people and priority to the social sectors. Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was again elected Prime Minister with a broad mandate after achieving strong popular support in all the four provinces of Pakistan.
Bhutto's platform has been leftist, including food for the hungry, health care, jobs, slum clearance and a monthly minimum wage.
She has been opposed by Islamic fundamentalists who have been suspicious of the PPP because of its alleged leftist.

In July 1993, the President of Pakistan dismissed the Government of Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif on corruption charges and called for fresh elections. The Pakistan Peoples Party went to the people in October, 1993 with a new "Agenda for Change". The programme envisaged government at the door-step of the people and priority to the social sectors. Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was again elected Prime Minister with a broad mandate after achieving strong popular support in all the four provinces of Pakistan.
Bhutto's platform has been leftist, including food for the hungry, health care, jobs, slum clearance and a monthly minimum wage.
She has been opposed by Islamic fundamentalists who have been suspicious of the PPP because of its alleged leftist.

In July 1993, the President of Pakistan dismissed the Government of Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif on corruption charges and called for fresh elections. The Pakistan Peoples Party went to the people in October, 1993 with a new "Agenda for Change". The programme envisaged government at the door-step of the people and priority to the social sectors. Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was again elected Prime Minister with a broad mandate after achieving strong popular support in all the four provinces of Pakistan.
Bhutto's platform has been leftist, including food for the hungry, health care, jobs, slum clearance and a monthly minimum wage.
She has been opposed by Islamic fundamentalists who have been suspicious of the PPP because of its alleged leftist.

Due to Benazir’s Personal world popularity, during her term Pakistan’s relation with other countries improved ,her moderate foreign policy had been credited for improving the wrong image of Pakistan around the world ,however domestically she and her party have been widely blamed for excessive corruption.
Benazir again faced trouble from the opposition. In the autumn of 1994, Nawaz Sharif led a "train march" from Karachi to Peshawar. This was followed by general strike on September 20. Two weeks later Nawaz Sharif called a "wheel jam" strike on October 11.
Bhutto was dismissed from office for the second time in late 1996. In October, large street demonstrations shut down the capital, and Bhutto aroused criticism when she had arrested several rival party leaders who had participated in the demonstrations.
Bhutto came under pressure from the press and public, who charged her government with corruption and mismanagement. On November 5, 1996, President of Pakistan Farooq Leghari dismissed Prime Minister Bhutto and dissolved the National Assembly.
Bhutto's husband, Zardari, was the focus of much of the criticism. She had appointed him to the cabinet post of investment minister. He was accused of taking bribes and pocketing money from government contracts. President Leghari also charged that Zardari was responsible for "extrajudicial killings" in Karachi, where Bhutto rivals had been killed by police.She denounced all charges as politically motivated, and went into self-imposed exile. In 2001 the Supreme Court of Pakistan suspended a high court’s 1999 conviction of Bhutto, ordering a retrial, but in a separate trial Bhutto was sentenced in absentia to three years in prison. She is currently still in self-exile in London and faces charges if she returns back.

Introduction

When audiences around the globe hear Benazir Bhutto's dramatic story of democracy and deposal, they are awed by the tireless strength with which she struggles to bring freedom to the people of her country. As the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto is a living icon of the battle for democracy, and stands with only a handful of female executive leaders who have shaped the global events of the last century.
First elected Prime Minister at the age of 35, Ms. Bhutto became the youngest Chief Executive Officer in the world and the first female Prime Minister in the Muslim world. After just 20 months in office, her government was unconstitutionally dismissed by a rival political party. Undeterred, she was reelected as Prime Minister in 1993.
During her terms of office, she was faced with an enormous challenge: how to effectively govern a poor, politically fractious, and ethnically diverse nation. Prime Minister Bhutto was praised for moving swiftly to restore civil liberties and political freedom, suspended under military rule. She launched a nationwide program of health and education reform. Although no longer Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto is Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party.
Ms. Bhutto resides in Dubai and makes frequent trips to the United States .