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Benazir Bhutto was assasinated by her opponents in Rawalpindi after she had finished addressing a rally there on 27 December 2007. She was shot by her assasin at close range who then detonated a bomb attached to himself which killed another 20 people nearby.

I am not going to blog about what is already written in the press and not to speculate on how she died. It does not matter if she id killed by the bullets on her neck or she hit her head against the sunroof of her bullet-proof car. Benazir Bhutto is dead and she died for what she believed in.

Benazir Bhutto won the election in 1988 to become the first women Prime Minister of Pakistan and also the first female leader in a Muslim country. She was only 35. During the period, there were so many changes happening around the world. Mikhail Gorbachev introduced Perestoika to the Russians and brought down the Iron Curtain. In Philippines, the People Power swept away dictator Ferdinand Marcos and placed the widow of Benigno Aquino, Corazon Aquino as the new President of Philippines. United Kingdom elected Margaret Thatcher to be their first woman Prime Minister. The world seem to be ready to accept big and drastic changes for the women. Alas, after the Iron Curtain has fallen, nothing much happened.

Looking back in history, the journey that Benazir Bhutto has undertaken is similar to that of Benigno Aquino. Both knew that their lives were in danger if they chose to return to their homeland and they did. And, they paid with their lives.

In Philippines, the death of Benigno Aquino triggered the People’s Power which ended dictatorship and brought back democracy. Pakistan is in turmoil at the moment. Will the death of Benazir Bhutto brings about positive change in Pakistan?