Home > Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

1 Biography

Bhutto was born in Larkana (in what is now Pakistan) the only son of Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto . He completed his early education in Bombay. After completing his initial education, he went to the United States in 1947 to study at the University of Southern CaliforniaThe University of Southern California (also known as USC or Southern Cal , Southern California's oldest private research university, is located in the urban center of Los Angeles, California. University of Southern California Motto''Palmam qui meruit fera and later transferred to the University of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley (also known as Cal Berkeley UCB or UC Berkeley is a public, coeducational university situated in the foothills of Berkeley, California to the east of San Francisco Bay, overlooking the Golden Gate and its bridge.. While at Berkeley he was the first Asian student to be elected to the Berkeley Student Council. From Berkeley he earned a degree in political science, after which he went to OxfordUniversity of Oxford Motto Dominus Illuminatio Mea ("The Lord is my Light") ( Psalm 27) Established c. 1096 School type Public Chancellor The Right Hon. Chris Patten Vice-Chancellor Dr. John Hood Location Oxford, United Kingdom Enrolment 17,000 total (5,6 and studied at Christ Church CollegeChrist Church (in full: The Cathedral Church of Christ in Oxford of the Foundation of King Henry VIII is one of the largest and wealthiest of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The city of Christchurch, New Zealand from where he graduated with honors.

Following his time at Oxford, he was called to the bar at Lincoln's InnLincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The others are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. It is situated in Holborn, in the London Borough of Camde in 19531953 is a common year starting on Thursday (click on link for the calendar). Events January events January 7 President Harry S. Truman announces the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb. January 13 Marshal Josip Broz Tito chosen President of Yugosl (which had also been attended by Allama Iqbal and Muhammed Ali Jinnah). The same year, his first child was born, a daughter Benazir, who would later become prime minister herself. In 1958 he joined the cabinet of Iskander Mirza. From there, he was active in the Pakistani government working at various posts.

In 1966 he resigned from the cabinet, after serving as Foreign Minister.

In 1967 Bhutto formed the Pakistan People's Party ( PPP) to oppose Ayub Khan’s regime. He adopted a uniform similar to those worn by China’s Communist Party leaders and called for the introduction of " Islamic socialism" in Pakistan and the commencement of a " thousand year war " against India. Using the title "Leader of the People," Bhutto launched a nationwide tour, agitating against the military dictatorship. He was arrested in connection with these activities in November 1968 and detained for three months. The movement he helped unleash in West Pakistan (coextensive with the country’s current boundaries), in conjunction with agitation for greater autonomy taking place in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), forced the resignation of Ayub Khan in March 1969.

Ayub Khan handed power over to the army commander in chief, Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, who assumed the presidency and reimposed martial law. The issue of an autonomous East Pakistan continued to plague Yahya’s administration. In elections held in 1970, the pro-autonomy Awami League won by a landslide in East Pakistan, capturing enough parliamentary seats to control any government that might be formed. Bhutto’s PPP captured the majority of seats in West Pakistan. When Yahya and the PPP delayed the transfer of power to the newly elected representatives in March 1971, public unrest erupted in East Pakistan. East Pakistani leaders demanded the establishment of an independent nation of Bangladesh, and the Pakistani army cracked down brutally on civilians as well as on armed revolutionaries in East Pakistan. When India intervened in the civil war in December, the Pakistani army was swiftly defeated, and East Pakistan emerged as the state of Bangladesh ( Indo-Pakistani War of 1971). Yahya Khan resigned, and Bhutto was inaugurated as president and chief martial law administrator on December 20, 1971.

Bhutto introduced socialist economic reforms while working to prevent any further division of the country. He nationalized Pakistan’s major industries, life insurance companies, and private schools and colleges. Although still a major landholder, dubbed by his opponents the "Raja of Lārkāna," Bhutto enacted tax relief for the country’s poorest agricultural workers and placed ceilings on land ownership. He countered secessionist movements in all of Pakistan's provinces, lifted martial law in 1972, and pushed through a new constitution in 1973 that recognized Islam as the national religion . Under the parliamentary system established by the new constitution, Bhutto became prime minister. Bhutto’s support for democratic processes was uneven. A popular leader, he engaged in meet-the-people tours that attracted huge crowds. However, he also repressed all disagreement by opposition parties in Pakistan's National Assembly.

On the international front, Bhutto resumed implementation of his policy of nonaligned neutrality. He withdrew Pakistan from the British Commonwealth of Nations and from the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization ( SEATO), sponsored by the United States. In July 1972 he negotiated the Simla Agreement, which confirmed a line of control dividing Kashmir and prompted the withdrawal of Indian troops from Pakistani territory. To forge closer ties with the Islamic world, in 1974 Bhutto hosted the second meeting of the Organization of Islamic States in the city of Lahore. He used this forum to announce Pakistan’s official recognition of Bangladesh. To bolster Pakistan’s military defense capabilities, Bhutto laid the groundwork for a nuclear weapons program.

During elections held in March 1977, nine opposition parties, united as the Pakistan National Alliance ( PNA), ran a popular campaign against Bhutto’s PPP. When the PPP won a decisive victory in the parliamentary round of the elections, the PNA accused Bhutto’s party of rigging the vote and withdrew in protest from upcoming provincial elections. Widespread street fighting broke out, and opposition politicians were arrested. On July 5 the military, led by General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, staged a coup. Zia relieved Bhutto of power, holding him in detention for a month. Upon his release, Bhutto traveled the country amid adulatory crowds of PPP supporters. In September the army arrested Bhutto again on charges of authorizing the murder of a political opponent in 1974. Bhutto insisted that the allegations were false, but the high court in Lahore, packed with Zia's supporters, convicted Bhutto and imposed the death sentence. The Supreme Court approved the judgment by a 4-3 vote, and despite international protests, Bhutto was hanged in April 1979. He is buried in his ancestral village of Larkana next to his father.

The Pakistani population was divided in its opinion of Bhutto. While a significant segment of the population viewed him as a demagogue who deserved his fate, the majority of the population supported Bhutto’s populist and nationalist programs and viewed him as a martyr for democracy. After Zia died in an airplane crash in 1988, elections brought the PPP back to power, led by Bhutto's daughter, Benazir Bhutto.