Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was born on January 5, 1928. He was a Pakistani politician who served as the President of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973 and as the Prime Minister of  Pakistan from 1973 to 1977. He was the founder of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which is one of the largest political parties in Pakistan. His daughter Benazir Bhutto has also served twice as prime minister. Bhutto is often addressed as the Quaid-e-Awam .

Bhutto also helped Ayub Khan during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Falling out with Ayub after the war, Bhutto founded the Pakistan People’s Party in 1966, which won a majority of seats from West Pakistan in 1970. He refused to accept the victory of the Awami League, leading to a political and sectarian crisis.

After the Bangladesh Liberation War, Bhutto took over as president and the first civilian chief martial law adminstrator of Pakistan. In this capacity, he negotiated the Shimla Agreement with Indian leader Indira Gandhi to establish peace.

On April 4, 1979, the former Prime Minister was hanged, after the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence passed by the Lahore High Court. The High Court had given him the death sentence on charges of murder of the father of a dissident P. P. P. politician. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was buried in his ancestral village at Garhi Khuda Baksh, next to his father’s grave.