Murtaza Bhutto

Murtaza Bhutto
مير غلام مرتضيٰ ڀٽو
Born(1954-09-18)18 September 1954
Died20 September 1996(1996-09-20) (aged 42)
Cause of deathPolice encounter
Resting placeBhutto family mausoleum, Larkana, Sindh, Pakistan
Alma materHarvard University
University of Oxford
OccupationPolitician
Political partyPakistan Peoples Party (Shaheed Bhutto)
Spouses
Children2 (Fatima and Zulfikar)
Parent(s)Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Nusrat Ispahani
RelativesSee Bhutto family
AllegianceAl-Zulfiqar
MotiveOverthrow of Zia regime
Conviction(s)1981 by military tribunal
Criminal chargeAirplane hijacking, terrorism
PenaltyDeath

Ghulam Murtaza Bhutto (Sindhi: مير غلام مرتضيٰ ڀٽو; Urdu: مُرتضٰی بُھٹّو, 18 September 1954 – 20 September 1996) was a Pakistani politician and leader of al-Zulfiqar, a Pakistani left-wing militant organization.[1][2] The son of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, he earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University and a master's degree from the University of Oxford. Murtaza founded al-Zulfiqar after his father was overthrown and executed in 1979 by the military regime of General Zia-ul-Haq. In 1981, he claimed responsibility for the murder of conservative politician Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi, and the hijacking of a Pakistan International Airlines airplane from Karachi, during which a hostage was killed.[3][4] In exile in Afghanistan, Murtaza was sentenced to death in absentia by a military tribunal.

He returned to Pakistan in 1993 and was arrested for terrorism on the orders of his sister, then-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Released on bail, Murtaza successfully contested elections to the Sindh Provincial Assembly, becoming a vocal critic of Benazir and her husband Asif Ali Zardari. After increasing tensions between the two, he was shot dead along with six associates in a police encounter near his home in Karachi on 20 September 1996.[5][6] Benazir's government was dismissed a month later by President Farooq Leghari, primarily citing Murtaza's death and corruption.[7] Zardari was arrested and indicted for Murtaza's murder,[8] but acquitted in 2008.[9][10] Murtaza's own faction of his father's Pakistan People's PartyShaheed Bhutto, remains active in politics.


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