Murtaza Bhutto

Murtaza Bhutto

Murtaza Bhutto (September 18 1954 - September 20 1996) was a Pakistani politician. Born in Karachi he was eldest son of the former Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Begum Nusrat Bhutto. Murtaza graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard University in 1976 and continued on to do graduate school at Christ Church College, Oxford University. In 1977, his father was removed from power and later executed in 1979. In response to the loss of power by his father, Murtaza was instrumental in the formation of Al-Zulfiqar, an organization that has been linked to various terrorist acts in Pakistan. In 1981, members of this group carried out the hijacking of a PIA airplane during which they shot a Lieutenant they mistakenly thought to be Governor of Balochistan General Rahimuddin Khan's son. He also tried to assassinate Zia-ul-Haq five times, including a SAM attack on Zia'a plane. In 1985, his brother Shahnawaz Bhutto died mysteriously in France, his wife was accused of poisoning him.Bhutto would return to Pakistan in the 1993, a few years after his sister Benazir had become Prime Minister for the second time. Upon arrival, Murtaza was put into jail on charges built during martial law by the regime of General Zia ul Haq in the 1980s. Despite this setback, Bhutto was able to campaign for and win a seat in the provincial assembly of Sindh. Bhutto was also a critic of his sister's government, accusing it of corruption. These accusations made him a political enemy of his own sister, and split the Pakistan People's Party. The split would also affect the family, leading his mother Nusrat to publicly support him over his sister.Murtaza Bhutto was killed in a shootout with police forces on September 20,1996.

He is viewed in posterity as a terrorist and a typical feudal who suffered from a God-complex.