Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was educated at the University of Southern California, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Oxford, after which he trained as a barrister at Lincoln's Inn. He entered national politics as one of President Iskander Mirza's cabinet members, before being assigned several ministries during President Ayub Khan's military rule from 1958. Appointed Foreign Minister in 1963, Bhutto was a proponent of Operation Gibraltar in Indian-occupied Kashmir, leading to war with India in 1965. After the Tashkent Agreement ended hostilities, Bhutto fell out with Ayub and was sacked from government. He founded the PPP in 1967, contesting general elections held by President Yahya Khan in 1970. The Awami League in East Pakistan won a majority of seats, but neither Yahya nor Bhutto signalled yielding power. Subsequent uprisings led to the secession of Bangladesh, and Pakistan losing the war against Bangladesh-allied India in 1971. Bhutto was handed over the presidency in December 1971 and emergency rule was imposed.
By July 1972, Bhutto had recovered 93,000 prisoners of war and 5,000 square miles of Indian-held territory after signing the Simla Agreement.[3][4] He strengthened ties with China and Saudi Arabia, recognised Bangladesh, and hosted the second Organisation of the Islamic Conference in Lahore in 1974.[3] Domestically, Bhutto's reign saw parliament unanimously approve a new constitution in 1973, upon which he appointed Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry President and switched to the newly empowered office of Prime Minister. He also played an integral role in initiating the country's atomic bomb project.[5][6] However, Bhutto's nationalisation of much of Pakistan's fledgling industries, healthcare, and educational institutions led to economic stagnation. After dissolving provincial governments in Balochistan was met with unrest, Bhutto also ordered an military operation in the province in 1973, causing thousands of civilian casualties.[7]
Despite civil disorder, aggravated by incidents of repression by Bhutto's Federal Security Force, the PPP won parliamentary elections in 1977 by a wide margin. However, the opposition alleged widespread vote rigging, and violence escalated across the country. On 5 July that same year, Bhutto was deposed by his appointed army chief General Zia-ul-Haq in a bloodless coup[8] before being controversially tried and executed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1979 for authorising the murder of a political opponent.[4][9] While Bhutto remains a contentious figure in Pakistan's history, his party, the PPP, remains Pakistan's largest national political party, his son Murtaza Bhutto was an influential figure in the country's politics, his daughter Benazir Bhutto twice served as Prime Minister,[2] and his son-in-law and Benazir's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, is the current President.
Early life
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto came from a prominent Sindhi landowning family (see Bhutto family),[10] born to Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto and Khursheed Begum née Lakhi Bai in his parent's residence near Larkana. His mother converted from Hinduism to Islam before her marriage.[11][12] Bhutto's father was a prominent political figure in the Indian colonial government. He was their third child – their first one, Sikandar Ali, died from pneumonia at age seven in 1914 and the second child, Imdad Ali, died of cirrhosis at the age of 39 in 1953.[13] His father was the prime minister of Junagadh State, and enjoyed an influential relationship with the officials of the British Raj. As a young boy, Bhutto moved to Worli Seaface in Bombay (now Mumbai) to study at the Cathedral and John Connon School. During this period, he also became a student activist in the social movement and nationalist league, the Pakistan Movement. In 1943, his marriage was arranged with Shireen Amir Begum (died 19 January 2003 in Karachi). He later left her, however, in order to remarry. In 1947, Bhutto was admitted to the University of Southern California to study political science.[2]
In 1949, as college sophomore, Bhutto transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a B.A. (honours) degree in Political science in 1950.[2] Here, Bhutto would become interested in the theories of socialism, delivering a series of lectures on the feasibility of socialism in Islamic countries. During this time, Bhutto's father, Sir Shahnawaz, played a controversial role in the affairs of the state of Junagadh (now in Gujarat). Coming to power in a palace coup as the dewan, he secured the accession of the state to Pakistan, which was ultimately negated by Indian intervention in December 1947.[14] In June 1950, Bhutto travelled to the United Kingdom to study law at Christ Church— a constituent college of the University of Oxford— and received an LLB, followed by another advanced LLM degree in Law and M.Sc. (honours) degree in Political science.[2] Upon finishing his studies, he was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in the year 1953 (the same school at which Muhammad Ali Jinnah studied law).[2]
Bhutto married his second wife, the Iranian-Kurdish Begum Nusrat Ispahani,[15] in Karachi on 8 September 1951. Their first child, his daughter Benazir, was born in 1953. She was followed by Murtaza in 1954, a second daughter, Sanam, in 1957, and the youngest child, Shahnawaz Bhutto, in 1958. He accepted the post of lecturer at the Sindh Muslim College, from where he was also awarded an honorary doctorate —honoris causa— in law by the then college President, Hassanally Rahman before establishing himself in a legal practice in Karachi. He also took over the management of his family's estate and business interests after his father's death.
Political career
In 1957, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto became the youngest member of Pakistan's delegation to the United Nations. He addressed the United Nations Sixth Committee on Aggression on 25 October 1957 and led Pakistan's delegation to the first United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea in 1958. That same year, Bhutto became the youngest Pakistan cabinet minister, on appointment to the Ministry of Water and Power by President Field Marshal Ayub Khan, who had seized power and declared martial law in a successful coup d'état.[2] In 1960, he was promoted to Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Communications, and the Ministry of Industry. Bhutto became a close and trusted political advisor to Field Marshal Ayub Khan, rising in influence and power despite his youth and relative inexperience in politics. Bhutto aided Ayub Khan in negotiating the Indus Water Treaty in India in 1960. In 1961, Bhutto negotiated an oil exploration agreement with the Soviet Union, which agreed to provide economic and technical aid to Pakistan
.Pakistan Peoples Party
Following his resignation, large crowds gathered to listen to Bhutto's speech upon his arrival in Lahore on 21 June 1967. Tapping a wave of anger and opposition against Ayub, Bhutto began travelling across the country to deliver political speeches. In a speech in October 1966 Bhutto declared the PPP's beliefs, "Islam is our faith, democracy is our policy, socialism is our economy. All power to the people."[29] On 30 November 1967, in a residence of Dr. Mubashir Hassan, Bhutto, along with Bengali communist J.A. Rahim and Dr. Mubashir Hassan, Basit Jehangir Sheikh and other young leaders founded the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Lahore, establishing a strong base of political support in Punjab, Sindh and amongst the Muhajir communities.[30]
Dr. Hassan, a professor of civil engineering at the UET Lahore, was the main brain and hidden hand behind the success and the rise of Bhutto.[30] Under Hassan's guidance and Bhutto's leadership, Bhutto's People's Party became a part of the pro-democracy movement involving diverse political parties from all across Pakistan.[30] The PPP activists staged large protests and strikes in different parts of the country, increasing pressure on Ayub to resign.[30] Dr. Hassan and Bhutto's arrest on 12 November 1969, sparked greater political unrest.[30] After his release, Bhutto, joined by key leaders of PPP, attended the Round Table Conference called by Ayub Khan in Rawalpindi, but refused to accept Ayub's continuation in office and the East-Pakistani politician Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's Six point movement for regional autonomy.[30]
Following Ayub's resignation, his successor, General Yahya Khan promised to hold parliamentary elections on 7 December 1970.[30] Bhutto attracted the leftist and ultra-leftist forces, who gathered under his leadership, becoming the full sum of force.[30] The Socialist-Communist mass, under Bhutto's leadership, intensified its support in Muhajir and poor farming communities in West Pakistan, working through educating people to cast their vote for their better future.[30] Gathering and uniting the scattered socialist-marxist mass in one single center was considered Bhutto's greatest political achievements and as its result, the leftist and Bhutto's party won a large number of seats from constituencies in West-Pakistan.[29] However, Sheikh Mujib's Awami League won an absolute majority in the legislature, largely because an electoral reform had given East-Pakistan a substantial majority of the seats in the chamber. Bhutto refused to accept an Awami League government and famously promised to "break the legs" of any elected PPP member who dared to attend the inaugural session of the National Assembly.[30] Capitalising on West Pakistani fears of East Pakistani separatism, Bhutto demanded that Sheikh Mujib form a coalition with the PPP.[31] According to terrorism expert Hamid Mir, Bhutto sent his most trusted companion to East Pakistan to meet with Mujib and his inner circle, played a major role convincing Mujib to meet Bhutto.[30] After Dr. Hassan achieved this task, Bhutto and Mujib agreed upon a coalition government for the sake of keeping Pakistan united. Under the terms of the deal, Mujib would have become prime minister and Bhutto would have succeeded Yahya as president.[30][31] Yahya was unaware of these talks, and both Bhutto and Mujib kept substantial pressure on Yahya Khan.[31] After his own talks with Sheikh Mujib failed, Yahya postponed the opening session of the National Assembly and ordered an army action against Mujib.[29][31] Amidst popular outrage in East Pakistan, Sheikh Mujib declared the independence of "Bangladesh". According to historical references and a report published by leading newspaper, "Mujib no longer[32] believed in Pakistan and was determined to make Bangladesh", despite Bhutto's urged.[32] His daughter Hasina Wajid has not accepted Pakistan from the core of heart even today.[32] As long as she is the prime minister, relations between Bangladesh and Pakistan cannot normalise, The Nation noted.[32]
On 26 March 1971 after Mujib was arrested by the Pakistan Army, which had been ordered by Yahya to suppress political activities.[30][33] While supportive of the army's actions and working to rally international support, Bhutto distanced himself from the Yahya regime and began to criticised Khan for mishandling the situation.[31] He refused to accept Yahya's scheme to appoint Bengali politician Nurul Amin as Prime minister, with Bhutto as deputy prime minister.[31] Soon after his refusal and continuous resentment toward General Yahya Khan's mishandling of situation, General Yahya Khan ordered Military Police to arrest Bhutto for a treason charges, a quiet similar to Mujib.[31] Bhutto was situated at the Adiala Jail along with Mujib where he was set to face the charges.[31] The Indian intervention in East Pakistan led to the very bitter defeat of Pakistani forces, who surrendered on 16 December 1971. Bhutto and others condemned Yahya for failing to protect Pakistan's unity.[31] Isolated, Yahya resigned on 20 December and transferred power to Bhutto, who became president, commander-in-chief and the first civilian chief martial law administrator.[29]
Bhutto was the country's first civilian chief martial law administrator since 1958, as well as the country's first civilian president.[29] With Bhutto assuming the control, the leftists and democratic socialists entered in county's politics, later emerged as power players in country's politics. And, for the first time in country's history, the leftists and democratic socialists had a chance to administer the country with popular vote and wide approved exclusive mandate, given to them by the West's population in the 1970s elections.[29]
In a reference written by Kuldip Nayar in his book "Scoop! Inside Stories from the Partition to the Present", Nayar noted that "Bhutto's releasing of Mujib did not mean anything to Pakistan's policy as in if there was no liberation war.[34] Bhutto's policy, and even as of today, the policy of Pakistan continues to state that "she will continue to fight for the honor and integrity of Pakistan. East Pakistan is an inseparable and unseverable part of Pakistan".[34]
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