Born 21 June 1953(1953-06-21) Karachi, Pakistan Died 27 December 2007 (aged 54) Rawalpindi, Pakistan Political party Pakistan Peoples Party Spouse Asif Ali Zardari

Religion Islam A Look At The Bhutto Family Dynasty

Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto: The grandfather of Benazir Bhutto, a senior figure in the Pakistan Muslim League, the party that helped split Pakistan from India and lead it to independence in 1947.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto: Benazir's father, who become prime minister in 1971 after founding the populist Pakistan People's Party with the creed: "Food, shelter and clothing for all". He was executed in 1979 by the government of then-military ruler Gen Mohammad Ziaul Haq on charges of arranging the murder of the father of a political opponent.

Nusrat Bhutto: Benazir's mother, a lawmaker who took control of her husband's party after his death. She has not been seen in public in recent years because of illness.

Benazir Bhutto: Benazir Bhutto, who took over the leadership of her father's party, was elected the Islamic world's first women prime minister in 1988, but was fired 20 months later by the country's military-backed president. She was elected again in 1993, only to be removed again three years later. Bhutto was killed on Thursday by a suicide attacker as she campaigned to become premier a third time.

Murtaza Bhutto: The older of Bhutto's two brothers, Murtaza died in a shootout with police just outside his Karachi residence while Benazir was prime minister.

Shahnawaz Bhutto: Benazir's younger brother, Shahnawaz, organised opposition from France, but died under mysterious circumstances in his apartment on the Riviera in 1980.

Ghinwa Bhutto: Murtaza's wife. She founded a breakaway faction of the People's Party that arners few votes.

Fatima Bhutto: Ghinwa's 25-year-old daughter. Educated, photogenic and headstrong, she has been touted as a possible successor at the helm of the PPP.

Bilawal Zardari: Benazir's 19-year-old son, who has recently been hailed as a potential heir to his mother.

[Pakistani former premier Benazir Bhutto arrived for an election campaign rally in Rawalpindi 27 December 2007] [Pakistani former premier Benazir Bhutto leaves the stage after her last election campaign rally in Rawalpindi.]
[Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto waves from her car just seconds before being attacked ] [Benazir Bhutto in Larkana, 26 November 2007] [A supporter of former premier Benazir Bhutto cries as he sits among bodies after the bomb blast,]
[Rawalpindi General Hospital] [Mourners remove Benazir Bhutto's coffin from Rawalpindi General Hospital on 27 December]
[Supporters of Benazir Bhutto grieve for her at Rawalpindi General Hospital] [Benazir Bhutto's supporters carry her coffin] [Benazir Bhutto's coffin is loaded into an ambulance] [The ambulance carrying Ms Bhutto's coffin ] [Pakistani former premier Nawaz Sharif comforts Bhutto supporters ]
[The Bhutto family mausoleum in the village of Ghari Khuda Baksh, Larkana (image from October 2007) ]

The Bhutto family's ancestral graveyard in Ghari Khuda Baksh, Larkana, is dominated by the mausoleum of Benazir's father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

[Pakistani pedestrians pass by burning vehicles on a street in Karachi]
[A Pakistani supporter of Benazir Bhutto shouts beside a burning car in Lahore] [A young man sets a PML-Q banner alight in Rawalpindi] [A man cycles past burning tyres in Rawalpindi] [Benazir Bhutto bomb attack in Karachi 18 October 2007]

"I never influenced the awarding of a contract, and until my dying day I'll stand by it. They have tried to ruin me because they want to ruin the concept of a pluralistic, liberal Pakistan. To be accused of robbing, that really pains me."

[Benazir Bhutto with Indian Foreign Affairs Minister Swaran Singh in 1972]

Benazir Bhutto was part of a political dynasty. Here she is with India's foreign minister in 1972 in Simla, where her father, President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, met India's Indira Gandhi.

Pakistan Facing Worst Crisis In History: Analysts

Courtessy : The News (www.news.com.pk) Saturday, December 29, 2007

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan faces the worst crisis in its modern history after the killing of Benazir Bhutto, an attack aimed at destabilising the nuclear-armed Islamic nation and wrecking the planned elections, analysts said.

The country is on the edge of mass unrest following Bhutto's assassination on Thursday, with more than 20 people dying in riots and political violence sparked by her death in a gun and suicide bomb attack.

Analysts said President Pervez Musharraf would have to reach out to opponents who have held him responsible for, at the very least, failing to protect Bhutto or face an end to his eight year-rule.

With elections due in less than two weeks intended to be a pivotal step on the road to democracy, the turmoil is posing the biggest challenge to Pakistan since Bangladesh split off from Pakistan more than 35 years ago.

"We are heading towards a very uncertain phase of politics which has the potential to plunge the country into a state of anarchy," Hasan Askari, former head of political science at Lahore's Punjab University, told AFP.

"The distrust between Musharraf and the opposition is such that some elements in the opposition have already called for his resignation therefore there is little prospect at this stage for a ecovery."

He added: "If the present crisis continues, Musharraf's own future could be jeopardised."

The government has pointed the finger at Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network for killing Benazir Bhutto, noting she was a vocal opponent of Islamic militancy and a perceived friend of the West.

But her party, as well as other opposition figures, have said President Musharraf's government failed to protect her from the threat.

Either way, Musharraf's apparent inability to stop the bloodshed that has plagued Pakistan this year will count against him in the eyes of the public, analysts said.

Musharraf and his allies are already struggling ahead of elections due on January 8.

"The credibility of the government in bringing the country back to normalcy is falling by the hour," said Rasul Baksh Rais, a political scientist at Lahore University of Management Sciences.

"What happened after the tragic assassination of Benazir Bhutto is symptomatic of the pent-up social anger and frustration in the country," Rais said.

Musharraf who spent much of this year battling to secure his re-election as president in October despite slumping popularity now looks set to dig in his heels.

"Pakistan may plunge into still greater uncertainty and chaos if the Musharraf regime continues to fail in reaching out to all the political forces in the country in setting an agenda for genuine change," Rais said.

A Western diplomat said the situation was "not yet catastrophic" but that much depended on the ability of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) to calm its members and legions of supporters.

"If the PPP and Musharraf do not agree on something very soon, and they don't talk to the PPP members on the streets, then the situation will worsen."

But some analysts did sound a note of hope, saying Bhutto could effectively become a martyr to the democratic cause that she championed.

"In her death she may be able to achieve her goal in life, to put the country on the road to democracy," said analyst and retired army general Talat Masood.