Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was killed on Thursday, came from a powerful political dynasty. She said after returning home from exile in October, "we have to face the future with courage, whatever it brings."
Her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, became the country's first popularly elected prime minister but was toppled by the military in 1977 and later hanged for the murder of a political opponent. His supporters said the charge was trumped up by a military dictator.
Both of his sons died in unexplained circumstances. Shahnawaz Bhutto, the younger son, was found dead in his flat on the French Riviera in 1985. Benazir said her brother was poisoned. The older son, Murtaza, was killed along with six supporters after a confrontation with police in Karachi in 1996. His family says it was a targeted killing.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's bed-ridden wife, Nusrat, and an apolitical daughter, Sanam, are the only survivors of the family.
Benazir Bhutto was lucky to survive when a suicide bomber killed nearly 150 people in an attack on her motorcade as she returned to the country in October after eight years in exile.
Later that month, she paid an emotional return to her father's grave in their ancestral village in southern Pakistan. "There is still danger of attack, but Allah can protect everyone and I am not scared," she said.
In a family interview with India's Outlook magazine in Dubai last year, Benazir said she hoped her three children would choose a different career. "My children have told me they are very worried about my safety. I understand those fears. But they are Bhuttos and we have to face the future with courage, whatever it brings."
Source: Xinhua
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