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Bhutto, the leader of the opposition party planning to challenge
President Pervez Musharraf's party in the election, was killed
during a suicide bombing and gun attack on her car after a
rally Dec. 27.
Bhutto's 19-year-old son Bilawal Zardari has been nominated
to take over her party, however an older politician will run
things until he finishes college.
The government investigation
An
initial government report said the shooter at the rally attack
missed Bhutto and that she died from cracking her skull on the
side of the sunroof as she ducked to dodge the shots.
Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party has ridiculed that report
and demanded the United Nations investigate her death.
Many of her supporters blame Musharraf and the government's
security agencies, either of direct involvement or failure
to provide protection.
In a letter printed in the International Herald Tribune on
Jan. 5, Bhutto's husband wrote that "an investigation
conducted by the government of Pakistan will have no credibility,
in my country or anywhere else."
President Musharraf admitted the government may have made
mistakes in the investigation.
In a CBS "60 Minutes" interview on Jan. 6, Musharraf
acknowledged that Bhutto could have been killed by the shots.
"Yes, absolutely, yes. Possibility," Musharraf
said. But, Musharraf said, the reports of government involvement
in the death are "baseless allegations."
Political turmoil, past and present
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Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was a political enemy
of Bhutto. |
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Bhutto, the daughter of
a prime minister, became the first female prime minister of
Pakistan in 1988. She won the position again in 1993, but was
accused of corruption and forced to leave the country in 1999.
Musharraf took over power in the country in a 1999 coup from
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Musharraf has never been elected as president by the public,
causing many people to call him a dictator. Until November,
he held the roles of president and military chief despite
criticism by both Pakistanis and Western leaders that a president
of a real democracy should not also be the military leader.
The U.S. government, which relies on Musharraf's help in
fighting the region's "war on terror," has tried
to help the Pakistani leader mend his public image, and at
one point encouraged him to partner in a power-sharing agreement
with Bhutto -- despite the two leaders' history of being political
rivals.
Bhutto returned to Pakistan after eight years in exile in
October of 2007 to prepare to participate in January parliamentary
elections.
After her return, talks between Musharraf and Bhutto broke
down and she took to aggressively campaigning for her party,
a democratic Pakistan and a crackdown on violent Islamic extremists.
The next election
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Bhutto's widower and son will take over the leadership
of her political party. |
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After Bhutto's death,
supporters and mourners filled the streets. Riots broke out
in major cities, and the planned Jan. 8 elections were pushed
back to Feb. 18 by the government.
Bhutto named her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, as her successor
in her will. He then nominated their son, Bilawal, to lead
the party.
The young Zardari said he would take on the role once he
finishes school at Oxford University in Britain.
"My mother always said democracy is the best revenge,"
Bilawal Zardari told reporters.
The Pakistani government has said it will allow international
election monitors, but watchdog groups have already complained
that the election is tainted by Bhutto's death, further harassment
of opposition leaders and a censored and stifled media.
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After H1N1-related school closures in the last flu season, local schools have lowered the severity of their response and are focusing on preventative action that does not interrupt education.
