Karachi (January 5, 2017): Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was born on January 5, 1928, to Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto and Khursheed Begum near Larkana.His father was the ‘Dewan of the princely state of Junagadh, and enjoyed an influential relationship with the officials of the British regime.’As a young boy, Bhutto moved to Worli Seaface in Bombay to study at the Cathedral and John Connon School. He then also became an activist in the Pakistan Movement. In 1943.In 1949, Bhutto transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a B.A. (honours) degree in political science in 1950. In June 1950, Bhutto traveled to the United Kingdom to study law at Christ Church, Oxford and received an LLB, followed by an LLM degree in law and an M.Sc. (honours) degree in political science. Upon finishing his studies, he was called to the bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 1953.Bhutto married his second wife, the Iranian-Pakistani Nusrat Ispahani in Karachi on 8 September 1951. Their first child, Benazir, was born in 1953. She was followed by Murtaza in 1954, Sanam in 1957 and Shahnawaz in 1958.In 1958, he joined President Iskander Mirza’s Cabinet as Commerce Minister. He was the youngest Minister in Ayub Khans Cabinet. In 1963, he took over the post of Foreign Minister from Muhammad Ali Bogra.In mid 1964, Bhutto helped convince Ayub of the wisdom of establishing closer economic and diplomatic links with Turkey and Iran.Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto launched Pakistan Peoples Party after leaving Ayub’s Cabinet. In the general elections held in December 1970, PP P won a large majority in West Pakistan but failed to reach an agreement with Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rahman, the majority winner from East Pakistan.Following the 1971 War and the separation of East Pakistan, Yahya Khan resigned and Bhutto took over as President and Chief Martial Law Administrator on December 20, 1971.On March 1, he introduced land reforms, and on July 2, 1972, signed the Simla Agreement with India, which paved the way for the return of occupied lands and the release of Pakistani prisoners captured in East Pakistan in the 1971 war.After the National Assembly passed the 1973 Constitution, Bhutto was sworn-in as the Prime Minister of the country.Following a political crisis in the country, Bhutto was imprisoned by General Zia-ul-Haq, who imposed Martial Law on July 5, 1977.On April 4, 1979, the former Prime Minister was hanged, after the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence passed by the Lahore High Court.The High Court had given him the death sentence on charges of murder of the father of a dissident P P P politician.
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was buried in his ancestral village at Garhi Khuda Baksh, next to his father’s grave.
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