Anniversary

Remembering Bhutto

One year since former prime minister’s murder.

It was one year ago yesterday that Benazir Bhutto, the former Pakistani prime minister, was assassinated. According to The Guardian, 150,000 Pakistanis visited the town of Bhutto’s birth yesterday amid escalating tensions between Pakistan and India. Also on Saturday, India’s foreign minister accused Pakistan of whipping up a “sort of war hysteria,” and said “I appeal to Pakistan and Pakistani leaders: do not unnecessarily try to create tension. Do not try to deflect the issue. A problem has to be tackled face to face." Bhutto’s widower and current Pakistani President, Asif Ali Zardari, was supposed to speak at her hometown, but his speech was cancelled, apparently due to fears of suicide bombings. "Pakistan asks sacrifices of us, and when it does, this party and the people of this country give them," Zardari said in another speech. "There are a lot of conspiracies and fears but today democracy has triumphed ... we ourselves have accepted we have a cancer."