Yesterday, 27th December 2007, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated while leaving a political rally for the PPP at Liaquat National Bagh. She had just given a campaign address to party supporters in the run-up to the January 2008 parliamentary elections. After getting into her bulletproof vehicle, Bhutto stood up through the sunroof of the vehicle to wave to the crowds. An assassin on a motorcycle took this opportunity to shoot at her with a pistol. The assassin then detonated explosives on his body, killing about 30 others. She was rushed to the nearest hospital where she died, she was 54.

Benazir Bhutto

That been said, I got the news of this horrific event at around 9am Pacific Time and hard time believing it first and was not even able to respond to my wife because the information was so loaded that it took me some time to process it. I was also under the weather yesterday but still wasn’t able to go back to sleep after hearing the news. I woke up and tuned into Aaj Tv on Jump.tv.

There was the live coverage; it looked like a complete mess. I could see the streets of Pakistan engulfed in fire and emotional trauma. It is really hard to comprehend an event of this caliber to just happen in seconds and change lives of many. I have had my fair share of grief in a similar drive by political assassination where a very close family member was taken in seconds.

So who exactly was Benazir Bhutto? A daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother of 3, only woman head of state in the history of Pakistan, only woman in the Muslim world to have been elected head of state, and a brave woman who was ready to face the consequences of returning from self imposed exile.

I don’t want to get into any analysis and start the blame game before the facts are in. But surely I will talk about who I think was responsible for her assassination as well as why I think she was a hurdle to many in Pakistani politics.