Rawalpindi (Web Desk): The twelfth death anniversary of former prime minister late Benazir Bhutto was observed on Friday.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) held a huge public rally at Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi where the former PM was assassinated in a gun and bomb attack on December 27, 2007.
Addressing the gathering, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other party leaders vowed to complete the unfinished mission of Benazir Bhutto.
Bilawal said he will continue the struggle to restore people's rule in the country once again with the support of masses and the party supporters.
Earlier, in his message to mark the 12th death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the people of Pakistan would never forget their brave leader, who sacrificed everything for the country and for the rights of its downtrodden and barefoot masses.
He said that as a young daughter whose father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged, she fought bravely for the ideals her father embraced the gallows for.
"She led the followers of prime minister Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto into an untiring struggle against the brutal tyrant in shape of Zia. She suffered solitary confinement, imprisonments and forced exiles while fighting for restoration of democracy," the PPP chairman added.
Bilawal pointed out that Benazir defeated the dictatorship and was given power under compulsion after its remnants failed to completely hijack the 1988 general elections. He added that programmes covering health, education, poverty eradication, women development and defence, she launched, put the country onto the path to progress and prosperity.
Bilawal reiterated his commitment to his mother’s mission and pledged that he would continue the struggle with the support of masses and the party supporters.
The PPP chairman said that Benazir Bhutto would continue to live in the hearts and minds of the people as her legacy would never be forgotten in the history of Pakistan and her struggle for democracy, human rights and peaceful society.
Benazir Bhutto took oath as the first female prime minister of Pakistan on December 2, 1988. She was also the first woman to lead a Muslim state and twice served as the prime minister of Pakistan.
Former premier late Benazir Bhutto was born on 21st June 1953 in Karachi to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Nusrat Bhutto.
She completed her early education in Pakistan and then went to United States for higher studies.
Benazir graduated from Harvard University with a BA in comparative government. Later, she completed a course in international law and diplomacy from Oxford University.
After returning to Pakistan in 1977, she was placed under house arrest after military coup overthrew her father’s government.
A year later, General Zia-ul-Haq ordered the execution of her father for allegedly authorising the murder of an opponent. Eventually, she inherited her father’s leadership of PPP.
However, strict restrictions were imposed on her family due to which she moved to England in 1984 and returned on April 10, 1986, and campaigned for elections.
She married Asif Ali Zardari on December 18, 1987, and the couple has three children; Bilawal, Bakhtawar and Aseefa.
