Bhutto, Mohtarma Benazir
Bhutto, Mohtarma Benazir (Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto) (Benazir Bhutto) (June 21, 1953 - December 27, 2007). First woman ever to lead a modern Islamic nation, having twice been elected Prime Minister of Pakistan (1988-1990 and 1993-1996).
Benazir Bhutto was born the eldest child of Begum Nusrat Ispahani Bhutto and Zulfikar 'Ali Bhutto of a prominent Shi'a Muslim family of Larkana, in Karachi, Pakistan. She attended the Lady Jennings Nursery School and then the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Karachi. After two years of schooling at the Rawalpindi Presentation Convent, she was sent to the Jesus and Mary Convent at Murree. She passed her O-level examinations at the age of 15. She then went on to complete her A-Levels at the Karachi Grammar School.
After completing her early education in Pakistan, she pursued her higher education in the United States. From 1969 to 1973, she attended Radcliffe College at Harvard University, where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in comparative government. She was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Between 1973 and 1977, Bhutto studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, during which time she completed additional courses in International Law and Diplomacy. In December 1976, she was elected president of the Oxford Union, becoming the first Asian woman to head the prestigious debating society.
Benazir's father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar 'Ali Bhutto, was removed from office following a military coup in 1977 led by the then military chief General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who imposed martial law but promised to hold elections within three months. However, later, instead of fulfilling the promise of holding general elections, General Zia-ul-Haq charged Zulfikar Bhutto with conspiring to murder the father of dissident politician Ahmed Raza Kasuri. Zulfikar 'Ali Bhutto was sentenced to death by the martial law court.
Despite the accusation being widely doubted by the public, and despite many clemency appeals from foreign leaders, Zulfikar 'Ali Bhutto was hanged on April 4, 1979. Appeals for clemency were dismissed by acting President Zia-ul-Haq. Benazir Bhutto and her mother were held in a "police camp" until the end of May, after the execution.
Benazir Bhutto was imprisoned just before her father's execution and spent most of her five-year jail term in solitary confinement under extremely harsh conditions.
In 1985, Benazir Bhutto's brother Shahnawaz was killed under suspicious circumstances in France. The killing of another of her brothers, Mir Murtaza, in 1996, would contribute to destabilizing her second term as Prime Minister.
On December 18, 1987, Benazir Bhutto married Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi. The couple had three children: Bilawal, Bakhtwar and Aseefa.
Benazir Bhutto, who had returned to Pakistan after completing her studies, found herself placed under house arrest in the wake of her father's imprisonment and subsequent execution. Having been allowed in 1984 to return to the United Kingdom, she became a leader in exile of the Pakistan People's Party, her father's party, even though she was unable to make her political presence felt in Pakistan until after the death of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in 1988. Zia died in a mysterious explosion of his aircraft. She had succeeded her mother as leader of the PPP and the pro-democracy opposition to the Zia-ul-Haq regime.
On November 16, 1988, in the first open election in more than a decade, Bhutto's PPP won the largest bloc of seats in the National Assembly. Bhutto was sworn in as Prime Minister of a coalition government on December 2, becoming at age 35 the youngest person -- and the first woman -- to head the government of a Muslim-majority state in modern times. In 1989, she was awarded the Prize for Freedom by the Liberal International. Bhutto's accomplishments during this time were in initiatives for nationalist reform and modernization, that some conservatives characterized as Westernization. Bhutto's government was dismissed in August 1990 following charges of corruption, for which she never was tried. Zia's protege, Nawaz Sharif, subsequently came to power. Bhutto was re-elected in October 1993 but was dismissed three years later (in November 1996) amid various corruption scandals by then president Farooq Leghari, who used the Eighth Amendment discretionary powers to dissolve the government. The Supreme Court affirmed President Leghari's dismissal in a 6-1 ruling.
During both her stints in power, the role of Bhutto's husband, Asif Zardari, proved highly controversial. He played a prominent role in both her administrations, and was accused by various Pakistani governments of stealing millions of dollars from state coffers -- charges he denied, as did Bhutto herself. Nevertheless, many commentators argued that the downfall of Bhutto's government was accelerated by the alleged greed of her husband. Although none of corruption and criminal charges against Zardari were proved in court, he did serve some eight years in jail. He was freed on bail in 2004, amid accusations that the charges against him were weak and going nowhere.
In 1996, after being dismissed by the then-president of Pakistan on charges of corruption, her party lost the October elections. Bhutto served as leader of the opposition whilst Nawaz Sharif served as Prime Minister for the next three years. In 1999, she was convicted of failing to appear in court, but the Supreme Court later overturned that judgment. Soon after the conviction, audiotapes of conversations between the judge and some top aides of then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif were discovered that showed that the judge had been under pressure to convict.
Bhutto left Pakistan in 1999 to live abroad, but questions about her and her husband's wealth continued to follow her. She appealed against a conviction in the Swiss courts for money-laundering. During her years outside Pakistan, Bhutto lived with her three children in Dubai, where she was joined by her husband after he was freed in 2004.
Bhutto returned to Pakistan on October 18, 2007 after President Pervez Musharraf signed into law an ordinance granting her and others an amnesty from corruption charges. Observers noted that the military regime saw her as a natural ally in its efforts to isolate religious forces and their surrogate militants.
Although Bhutto was greeted by enthusiastic crowds, within hours of her arrival, her motorcade was attacked by a suicide bomber. She survived this first assassination attempt, although more than 100 bystanders died in the attack.
In the months before her death, Bhutto emerged as a strong contender for power. Some in Pakistan believed her secret talks with the military regime amounted to betrayal of democratic forces as these talks shored up President Musharraf's grip on the country. Others said such talks indicated that the military might at long last be getting over its decades old mistrust of Bhutto and her party, and interpreted it as a good omen for democracy. Western powers saw in her a popular leader with liberal leanings who could bring much needed legitimacy to Musharraf's role in the "war against terror."
With national elections scheduled for January 2008, and with her Pakistan People's Party poised for a victory that would make Bhutto prime minister once again. Only a few weeks before the election, on December 27, 2007, tragedy occurred. After a campaign rally in Rawalpindi, a gunman fired at her car before detonating a bomb, killing himself and more than 20 bystanders. Bhutto was rushed to a hospital but soon succumbed to injuries suffered in the attack.
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto see Bhutto, Mohtarma Benazir
Benazir Bhutto see Bhutto, Mohtarma Benazir
Bhutto, Mohtarma Benazir (Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto) (Benazir Bhutto) (June 21, 1953 - December 27, 2007). First woman ever to lead a modern Islamic nation, having twice been elected Prime Minister of Pakistan (1988-1990 and 1993-1996).
Benazir Bhutto was born the eldest child of Begum Nusrat Ispahani Bhutto and Zulfikar 'Ali Bhutto of a prominent Shi'a Muslim family of Larkana, in Karachi, Pakistan. She attended the Lady Jennings Nursery School and then the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Karachi. After two years of schooling at the Rawalpindi Presentation Convent, she was sent to the Jesus and Mary Convent at Murree. She passed her O-level examinations at the age of 15. She then went on to complete her A-Levels at the Karachi Grammar School.
After completing her early education in Pakistan, she pursued her higher education in the United States. From 1969 to 1973, she attended Radcliffe College at Harvard University, where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in comparative government. She was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Between 1973 and 1977, Bhutto studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, during which time she completed additional courses in International Law and Diplomacy. In December 1976, she was elected president of the Oxford Union, becoming the first Asian woman to head the prestigious debating society.
Benazir's father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar 'Ali Bhutto, was removed from office following a military coup in 1977 led by the then military chief General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who imposed martial law but promised to hold elections within three months. However, later, instead of fulfilling the promise of holding general elections, General Zia-ul-Haq charged Zulfikar Bhutto with conspiring to murder the father of dissident politician Ahmed Raza Kasuri. Zulfikar 'Ali Bhutto was sentenced to death by the martial law court.
Despite the accusation being widely doubted by the public, and despite many clemency appeals from foreign leaders, Zulfikar 'Ali Bhutto was hanged on April 4, 1979. Appeals for clemency were dismissed by acting President Zia-ul-Haq. Benazir Bhutto and her mother were held in a "police camp" until the end of May, after the execution.
Benazir Bhutto was imprisoned just before her father's execution and spent most of her five-year jail term in solitary confinement under extremely harsh conditions.
In 1985, Benazir Bhutto's brother Shahnawaz was killed under suspicious circumstances in France. The killing of another of her brothers, Mir Murtaza, in 1996, would contribute to destabilizing her second term as Prime Minister.
On December 18, 1987, Benazir Bhutto married Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi. The couple had three children: Bilawal, Bakhtwar and Aseefa.
Benazir Bhutto, who had returned to Pakistan after completing her studies, found herself placed under house arrest in the wake of her father's imprisonment and subsequent execution. Having been allowed in 1984 to return to the United Kingdom, she became a leader in exile of the Pakistan People's Party, her father's party, even though she was unable to make her political presence felt in Pakistan until after the death of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in 1988. Zia died in a mysterious explosion of his aircraft. She had succeeded her mother as leader of the PPP and the pro-democracy opposition to the Zia-ul-Haq regime.
On November 16, 1988, in the first open election in more than a decade, Bhutto's PPP won the largest bloc of seats in the National Assembly. Bhutto was sworn in as Prime Minister of a coalition government on December 2, becoming at age 35 the youngest person -- and the first woman -- to head the government of a Muslim-majority state in modern times. In 1989, she was awarded the Prize for Freedom by the Liberal International. Bhutto's accomplishments during this time were in initiatives for nationalist reform and modernization, that some conservatives characterized as Westernization. Bhutto's government was dismissed in August 1990 following charges of corruption, for which she never was tried. Zia's protege, Nawaz Sharif, subsequently came to power. Bhutto was re-elected in October 1993 but was dismissed three years later (in November 1996) amid various corruption scandals by then president Farooq Leghari, who used the Eighth Amendment discretionary powers to dissolve the government. The Supreme Court affirmed President Leghari's dismissal in a 6-1 ruling.
During both her stints in power, the role of Bhutto's husband, Asif Zardari, proved highly controversial. He played a prominent role in both her administrations, and was accused by various Pakistani governments of stealing millions of dollars from state coffers -- charges he denied, as did Bhutto herself. Nevertheless, many commentators argued that the downfall of Bhutto's government was accelerated by the alleged greed of her husband. Although none of corruption and criminal charges against Zardari were proved in court, he did serve some eight years in jail. He was freed on bail in 2004, amid accusations that the charges against him were weak and going nowhere.
In 1996, after being dismissed by the then-president of Pakistan on charges of corruption, her party lost the October elections. Bhutto served as leader of the opposition whilst Nawaz Sharif served as Prime Minister for the next three years. In 1999, she was convicted of failing to appear in court, but the Supreme Court later overturned that judgment. Soon after the conviction, audiotapes of conversations between the judge and some top aides of then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif were discovered that showed that the judge had been under pressure to convict.
Bhutto left Pakistan in 1999 to live abroad, but questions about her and her husband's wealth continued to follow her. She appealed against a conviction in the Swiss courts for money-laundering. During her years outside Pakistan, Bhutto lived with her three children in Dubai, where she was joined by her husband after he was freed in 2004.
Bhutto returned to Pakistan on October 18, 2007 after President Pervez Musharraf signed into law an ordinance granting her and others an amnesty from corruption charges. Observers noted that the military regime saw her as a natural ally in its efforts to isolate religious forces and their surrogate militants.
Although Bhutto was greeted by enthusiastic crowds, within hours of her arrival, her motorcade was attacked by a suicide bomber. She survived this first assassination attempt, although more than 100 bystanders died in the attack.
In the months before her death, Bhutto emerged as a strong contender for power. Some in Pakistan believed her secret talks with the military regime amounted to betrayal of democratic forces as these talks shored up President Musharraf's grip on the country. Others said such talks indicated that the military might at long last be getting over its decades old mistrust of Bhutto and her party, and interpreted it as a good omen for democracy. Western powers saw in her a popular leader with liberal leanings who could bring much needed legitimacy to Musharraf's role in the "war against terror."
With national elections scheduled for January 2008, and with her Pakistan People's Party poised for a victory that would make Bhutto prime minister once again. Only a few weeks before the election, on December 27, 2007, tragedy occurred. After a campaign rally in Rawalpindi, a gunman fired at her car before detonating a bomb, killing himself and more than 20 bystanders. Bhutto was rushed to a hospital but soon succumbed to injuries suffered in the attack.
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto see Bhutto, Mohtarma Benazir
Benazir Bhutto see Bhutto, Mohtarma Benazir
Bhutto, Zulfikar 'Ali
Bhutto, Zulfikar 'Ali (Zulfikar 'Ali Bhutto) (Zulfiqar 'Ali Bhutto) (Shaheed Zulfikar 'Ali Bhutto) (Shaheed Zulfikar Bhutto) (January 5, 1928 - April 4, 1979). President (1971-1973) and Prime Minister (1973-1977) of Pakistan. Bhutto was born into a family of landlords living in the Larkana district of the Sindh province of Pakistan. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of California in Berkeley in 1950 and later received a master’s degree in jurisprudence from Oxford University.
After teaching international law for a year at Southampton University, Bhutto returned to Pakistan in 1953 and opened a law practice. In 1958, he joined President Ayub Khan’s cabinet, and in 1963 he became foreign minister. In that capacity, he strengthened Pakistan’s ties with China and other countries in Asia and Africa.
Following the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, Bhutto, a pro-China advocate, denounced Ayub Khan’s pro-United States policies and left his cabinet in 1966. In 1967, he organized the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), with a socialist manifesto that became a rallying ground for the mass movement against Ayub Khan’s regime. Ayub Khan resigned in 1969, entrusting the government to General Yahya Khan, who reimposed martial law and promised to hold elections on the basis of universal suffrage. These elections were held in 1970, giving a majority of National Assembly seats to the Awami League, an exclusively East Pakistan based party. The refusal of Yahya Khan’s regime to accept this outcome precipitated the secession of East Pakistan (Bangladesh) in 1971.
Thereafter Bhutto, whose party had won a majority of National Assembly seats from West Pakistan, took over as head of state. A new constitution was passed in 1973, allowing for elections to be held in 1977. These resulted in another victory for Bhutto’s party. The remaining parties disputed the validity of this result and started street agitation demanding new elections. In the midst of this agitation, General Zia-ul Haq staged a coup and removed Bhutto from the office of prime minister. In September 1977, Bhutto was arrested, charged with conspiracy in a murder case involving the death of a political opponent, and condemned to death. He was executed on April 4, 1979, by the Zia regime, sparking fierce public protests.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was the founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the largest and most influential political party in Pakistan. His daughter Benazir Bhutto also served twice as prime minister. She was assassinated on December 27, 2007. Educated at the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States and University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, Bhutto was noted for his stagnating economic initiatives and repressive internal policies. He was executed in 1979 by the Supreme Court of Pakistan for authorizing the murder of a political opponent, in a move that was done under the directives of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was born to Khursheed Begum née Lakhi Bai and Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto of a prominent Sunni Muslim family. His father was Shahnawaz Bhutto. Bhutto was the son of a prominent political figure in the Indian colonial government. Zulfikar was born in his parent's residence near Larkana in what later became the province of Sindh. He was their third child — their first one, Sikandar Ali, died from pneumonia at age seven in 1914 and the second child, Imdad Ali, died of cirrhosis at the age of 39 in 1953. His father was a wealthy landlord, a zamindar, and a prominent politician in Sindh, who enjoyed an influential relationship with the officials of the British Raj. As a young boy, Bhutto moved to Worli Seaface in Bombay (now Mumbai) to study at the Cathedral and John Connon School. During this period, he also became a student activist in the Muslim League's Pakistan Movement. In 1943, his marriage was arranged with Shireen Amir Begum (died January 19, 2003 in Karachi). He later left her, however, in order to remarry. In 1947, Bhutto was admitted to the University of Southern California.
During this time, Bhutto's father, Sir Shahnawaz, played a controversial role in the affairs of the state of Junagadh (now in Gujarat). Coming to power in a palace coup as the dewan, he secured the accession of the state to Pakistan, which was ultimately negated by Indian intervention in December, 1947. In 1949, Bhutto transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned an honors degree in political science. Here he would become interested in the theories of socialism, delivering a series of lectures on the feasibility of socialism in Islamic countries. In June, 1950 Bhutto travelled to England to study law at Christ Church, Oxford. Upon finishing his studies, he was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1953 (the same school at which Muhammad Ali Jinnah studied law) .
Bhutto married his second wife, the Iranian-Kurdish Begum Nusrat Ispahani, a Shi'a Muslim, in Karachi on September 8, 1951. Their first child, a daughter, Benazir, was born in 1953. She was followed by Murtaza in 1954, a second daughter, Sanam, in 1957, and the youngest child, Shahnawaz Bhutto, in 1958. Zulfikar accepted the post of lecturer at the Sindh Muslim College, from where he was also awarded an honorary law degree by the then college President, Mr. Hassanally A. Rahman before establishing himself in a legal practice in Karachi. He also took over the management of his family's estate and business interests after his father's death.
In 1957, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto became the youngest member of Pakistan's delegation to the United Nations. He would address the United Nations Sixth Committee on Aggression on October 25, 1957 and lead Pakistan's deputation to the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Seas in 1958. In the same year, Bhutto became the youngest Pakistani cabinet minister when he was given charge of the energy ministry by President Muhammad Ayub Khan, who had seized power and declared martial law. He was subsequently promoted to head the ministries of commerce, information and industries. Bhutto became a close and trusted advisor to Ayub, rising in influence and power despite his youth and relative inexperience in politics. Bhutto aided Ayub in negotiating the Indus Water Treaty with India in 1960. In 1961, Bhutto negotiated an oil exploration agreement with the Soviet Union, which also agreed to provide economic and technical aid to Pakistan.
In 1962, Bhutto was appointed Pakistan's foreign minister. His swift rise to power also brought him national prominence and popularity. As foreign minister, Bhutto significantly transformed Pakistan's pro-Western foreign policy. While maintaining a prominent role for Pakistan within the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization and the Central Treaty Organization, Bhutto began asserting a foreign policy course for Pakistan that was independent of United States influence. Bhutto criticized the United States for providing military aid to India during and after the Sino-Indian War of 1962, which was seen as an abrogation of Pakistan's alliance with the United States. Bhutto worked to establish stronger relations with the People's Republic of China. He visited Beijing and helped Ayub negotiate trade and military agreements with the Chinese regime, which agreed to help Pakistan in a large number of military and industrial projects. Bhutto also signed the Sino-Pakistan Boundary Agreement on March 2, 1963 that transferred 750 square kilometers of territory from Pakistan-administered Kashmir to Chinese control. Bhutto asserted his belief in non-alignment, making Pakistan an influential member in non-aligned organizations. Believing in pan-Islamic unity, Bhutto developed closer relations with nations such as Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states.
Bhutto advocated hardline and confrontational policies against India over the Kashmir conflict and other issues. A brief skirmish took place in August 1965 between Indian and Pakistani forces near the international boundary in the Rann of Kutch. Bhutto joined Ayub in Tashkent to negotiate a peace treaty with the Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. Ayub and Shastri agreed to exchange prisoners of war and withdraw respective forces to pre-war boundaries. This agreement was deeply unpopular in Pakistan, causing major political unrest against Ayub's regime. Bhutto's criticism of the final agreement caused a major rift between him and Ayub Khan. Initially denying the rumors, Bhutto resigned in June, 1966 and expressed strong opposition to Ayub's regime.
Following his resignation, large crowds gathered to listen to Bhutto's speech upon his arrival in Lahore on June 21, 1967. Tapping a wave of anger and opposition against Ayub, Bhutto began travelling across the country to deliver political speeches. On November 30, 1967 Bhutto founded the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Lahore, establishing a strong base of political support in Punjab, Sindh and amongst the Muhajir communities. Bhutto's party became a part of the pro-democracy movement involving diverse political parties from all across Pakistan. PPP activists staged large protests and strikes in different parts of the country, increasing pressure on Ayub to resign. Bhutto's arrest on November 12, 1968 sparked greater political unrest. After his release, Bhutto attended the Round Table Conference called by Ayub in Rawalpindi, but refused to accept Ayub's continuation in office and the East Pakistani politician Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's Six point movement for regional autonomy.
Following Ayub's resignation, the new president General Yahya Khan promised to hold parliamentary elections on December 7, 1970. Bhutto's party won a large number of seats from constituencies in West Pakistan. However, Sheikh Mujib's Awami League won an outright majority from the constituencies located in East Pakistan. Bhutto refused to accept an Awami League government and famously promised to "break the legs" of any elected PPP member who dared to attend the inaugural session of the National Assembly of Pakistan. Capitalizing on West Pakistani fears of East Pakistani separatism, Bhutto demanded that Sheikh Mujib form a coalition with the PPP. Under substantial pressure from Bhutto and other West Pakistani political parties, Yahya postponed the inaugural session of the National Assembly after talks with Sheikh Mujib failed. Amidst popular outrage in East Pakistan, Major Ziaur Rahman, at the direction of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared the independence of "Bangladesh" on March 26, 1971 after Mujibur was arrested by the Pakistani Army, which had been ordered by Yahya to suppress political activities. While supportive of the army's genocide and working to rally international support, Bhutto distanced himself from the Yahya regime. He refused to accept Yahya's scheme to appoint Bengali politician Nurul Amin as prime minister, with Bhutto as deputy prime minister. Indian intervention in East Pakistan led to the defeat of Pakistani forces, which surrendered on December 16, 1971. Bhutto and others condemned Yahya for failing to protect Pakistan's unity. Isolated, Yahya resigned on December 20 and transferred power to Bhutto, who became the president, army commander-in-chief, as well as the first civilian chief martial law administrator.
As president, Bhutto placed Yahya under house arrest, brokered a ceasefire and ordered the release of Sheikh Mujib, who was held prisoner by the army. To implement this, Bhutto reversed the verdict of Mujib's court trial that had taken place earlier, in which the presiding Brigadier Rahimuddin Khan (later General) had sentenced Mujib to death. Appointing a new cabinet, Bhutto appointed General Gul Hasan as Chief of Army Staff. On January 2, 1972, Bhutto announced the nationalization of all major industries, including iron and steel, heavy engineering, heavy electricals, petrochemicals, cement and public utilities. A new labor policy was announced increasing workers rights and the power of trade unions. Although he came from a feudal background himself, Bhutto announced reforms limiting land ownership and a government take-over of over a million acres (4,000 km²) to distribute to landless peasants. More than 2,000 civil servants were dismissed on charges of corruption. Bhutto also dismissed the military chiefs on March 3 after they refused orders to suppress a major police strike in Punjab. He appointed General Tikka Khan as the new Chief of the Army Staff in March 1972. Bhutto felt the General would not interfere in political matters and would concentrate on rehabilitating the Pakistan Army. Bhutto convened the National Assembly on April 14, rescinded martial law on April 21 and charged the legislators with writing a new constitution.
Bhutto visited India to meet Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and negotiated a formal peace agreement and the release of 93,000 Pakistani prisoners of war. The two leaders signed the Shimla Agreement, which committed both nations to establish a new yet temporary Cease-fire Line in Kashmir and obligated them to resolve disputes peacefully through bi-lateral talks. Bhutto also promised to hold a future summit for the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute and pledged to recognize Bangladesh. Although he secured the release of Pakistani soldiers held by India, Bhutto was criticized by many in Pakistan for allegedly making too many concessions to India. It is theorized that Bhutto feared his downfall if he could not secure the release of Pakistani soldiers and the return of territory occupied by Indian forces. Bhutto established an atomic power development program and inaugurated the first Pakistani atomic reactor, built in collaboration with Canada in Karachi on November 28. In January 1973, Bhutto ordered the army to suppress a rising insurgency in the province of Balochistan and dismissed the governments in Balochistan and the Northwest Frontier Province. On March 30, 59 military officers were arrested by army troops for allegedly plotting a coup against Bhutto. Bhutto appointed then-Brigadier Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq to head a military tribunal to investigate and try the suspects. The National Assembly approved the new constitution, which Bhutto signed into effect on April 12. The constitution proclaimed an "Islamic Republic" in Pakistan with a parliamentary form of government. On August 10, Bhutto turned over the post of president to Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, assuming the office of prime minister instead.
Bhutto officially recognized Bangladesh in July. Making an official visit to Bangladesh, Bhutto was criticized in Pakistan for laying flowers at a memorial for Bangladeshi "freedom fighters." Bhutto continued to develop closer relations with China as well as Saudi Arabia and other Muslim nations. Bhutto hosted the Second Islamic Summit of Muslim nations in Lahore between February 22 and February 24 in 1974.
Bhutto, however, faced considerable pressure from Islamic religious leaders to declare the Ahmadiya communities as non-Muslims. Failing to restrain sectarian violence and rioting, Bhutto and the National Assembly amended the constitution to that effect. Bhutto intensified his nationalization program, extending government control over agricultural processing and consumer industries. Bhutto also, with advice from Admiral S.M. Ahsan, inaugurated Port Qasim, designed to expand harbor facilities near Karachi. However, the performance of the Pakistani economy declined amidst increasing bureaucracy and a decline in private sector confidence. In a surprise move in 1976, Bhutto appointed Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq to replace General Tikka Khan, surpassing five generals senior to Zia.
Bhutto began facing considerable criticism and increasing unpopularity as his term progressed. He initially targeted the leader of the opposition, Abdul Wali Khan, and his opposition National Awami Party (NAP). Despite the ideological similarity of the two parties the clash of egos both inside and outside the National Assembly became increasingly fierce and started with the Federal governments decision to oust the NAP provincial government in Balochistan for alleged secessionist activities and culminating in the banning of the party and arrest of much of its leadership after the death of Hayat Khan Sherpao, a close lieutenant of Bhutto, in a bomb blast in the frontier town of Peshawar.
Dissidence also increased within the PPP and the murder of dissident leader Ahmed Raza Kasuri's father led to public outrage and intra-party hostility as Bhutto was accused of masterminding the crime. Powerful PPP leaders such as Ghulam Mustafa Khar openly condemned Bhutto and called for protests against his regime. The political crisis in the NWFP and Balochistan intensified as civil liberties remained suspended and an estimated 100,000 troops deployed there were accused of human rights abuses and killing large numbers of civilians.
On January 8, 1977 many opposition political parties grouped to form the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA). Bhutto called fresh elections and the PNA participated in those elections with full force and managed to contest the elections jointly even though they had grave differences in their opinions and views. The PNA faced defeat but did not accept the results, accusing their opponents of rigging the election. They first claimed rigging on 14 seats and finally on 40 seats in the national assembly and boycotted the provincial elections. Provincial elections were held amidst low voter turnout and an opposition boycott. The PNA declare the newly-elected Bhutto government as illegitimate. Muslim leaders such as Maulana Maududi called for the overthrow of Bhutto's regime. Intensifying political and civil disorder prompted Bhutto to hold talks with PNA leaders, which culminated in an agreement for the dissolution of the assemblies and fresh elections under a form of government of national unity. However on July 5, 1977, Bhutto and members of his cabinet were arrested by troops under the order of General Zia.
General Zia announced that martial law had been imposed, the constitution suspended and all assemblies dissolved. Zia also ordered the arrest of senior PPP and PNA leaders but promised elections in October. Bhutto was released on July 29 and was received by a large crowd of supporters in his hometown of Larkana. He immediately began touring across Pakistan, delivering speeches to large crowds and planning his political comeback. Bhutto was arrested again on September 3 before being released on bail on September 13. Fearing yet another arrest, Bhutto named his wife, Nusrat, president of the Pakistan People's Party. Bhutto was imprisoned on September 17 and a large number of PPP leaders and activists arrested and disqualified from contesting in elections.
Bhutto's trial began on October 24 on charges of "conspiracy to murder" Ahmed Raza Kasuri. On July 5, 1977 the military, led by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, staged a coup. Zia relieved prime minister Bhutto of power, holding him in detention for a month. Zia pledged that new elections would be held in 90 days. He kept postponing the elections and publicly retorted during successive press conferences that if the elections were held in the presence of Bhutto, his party would not return to power again.
Upon his release, Bhutto traveled the country amid adulatory crowds of PPP supporters. He took the train traveling from the south to the north and on the way, would address public meetings at different stations. Several of these trains were late, some by days, in reaching their respective destinations and as a result Bhutto was banned from traveling by train. The last visit he made to the city of Multan in the province of Punjab marked the turning point in Bhutto's political career and ultimately, his life. In spite of the administration's efforts to block the gathering, the crowd was so large that it became disorderly, providing an opportunity for the administration to declare that Bhutto had been taken into custody because the people were against him and it had become necessary to protect him from the masses for his own safety.
On September 3 the Army arrested Bhutto again on charges of authorizing the murder of a political opponent in March 1974. A 35-year-old politician Ahmed Raza Kasuri tried to run as a PPP candidate in elections, despite having previously left the party. The Pakistan Peoples Party rebuffed him. Three years earlier, Kasuri and his family had been ambushed, leaving Kasuri's father, Nawab Mohammad Ahmad Khan, dead. Kasuri claimed that he was the actual target, accusing Bhutto of being the mastermind. Kasuri later claimed that he had been the victim of 15 assassination attempts.
Bhutto was released 10 days after his arrest after a judge, Justice KMA Samadani, found the evidence contradictory and incomplete. Justice Samadani had to pay for this; he was immediately removed from the court and placed at the disposal of the law ministry. Three days later Zia arrested Bhutto again on the same charges, this time under martial law. When the PPP organized demonstrations among Bhutto's supporters, Zia canceled the upcoming elections.
Bhutto was arraigned before the High Court of Lahore instead of in a lower court, thus automatically depriving him of one level of appeal. The judge who had granted him bail was removed. Five new judges were appointed, headed by Chief Justice of Lahore High Court Maulvi Mushtaq Ali, who denied bail. The trial lasted five months, and Bhutto appeared in court on a dock specially built for the trial.
Proceedings began on October 24, 1977. Masood Mahmood, the director general of the Federal Security Force (since renamed the Federal Investigation Agency), testified against Bhutto. Mahmood had been arrested immediately after Zia's coup and had been imprisoned for two months prior to taking the stand. In his testimony, he claimed Bhutto had ordered Kasuri's assassination and that four members of the Federal Security Force had organized the ambush on Bhutto's orders.
The four alleged assassins were arrested and later confessed. They were brought into court as co-accused but one of them recanted his testimony, declaring that it had been extracted from him under torture. The following day, the witness was not present in court; the prosecution claimed that he had suddenly fallen ill.
Bhutto's defense challenged the prosecution with proof from an army logbook the prosecution had submitted. It showed that the jeep allegedly driven during the attack on Kasuri was not even in Lahore at the time. The prosecution had the logbook disregarded as incorrect. During the defense's cross-examination of witnesses, the bench often interrupted questioning. The 706-page official transcript contained none of the objections or inconsistencies in the evidence pointed out by the defense.
When Bhutto began his testimony on January 25, 1978, Chief Justice Maulvi Mustaq closed the courtroom to all observers. Bhutto responded by refusing to say any more. Bhutto demanded a retrial, accusing the Chief Justice of bias, after Mustaq allegedly insulted Bhutto's home province. The court refused his demand.
On March 18, 1978, Bhutto was declared guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Bhutto did not seek an appeal. While he was transferred to a cell in Rawalpindi central jail, his family appealed on his behalf, and a hearing before the Supreme Court commenced in May. Bhutto was given one week to prepare. Bhutto issued a thorough rejoinder to the charges, although Zia blocked its publication. Chief Justice S. Anwarul Haq adjourned the court until the end of July 1978, supposedly because five of the nine appeals court judges were willing to overrule the Lahore verdict. One of the pro-Bhutto judges was due to retire in July.
Chief Justice S. Anwarul Haq presided over the trial, despite being close to Zia, even serving as Acting President when Zia was out of the country. Bhutto's lawyers managed to secure Bhutto the right to conduct his own defense before the Supreme Court. On December 18, 1978, Bhutto made his appearance in public before a packed courtroom in Rawalpindi. By this time he had been on death row for 9 months and had gone without fresh water for the previous 25 days. He addressed the court for four days, speaking without notes.
The appeal was completed on December 23, 1978. On February 6, 1979, the Supreme Court issued a guilty verdict, a decision reached by a bare 4-to-3 majority. The Bhutto family had seven days in which to appeal. The court granted a stay of execution while it studied the petition. By February 24, 1979 when the next court hearing began, appeals for clemency arrived from many heads of state. Zia said that the appeals amounted to trade union activity among politicians.
On March 24, 1979 the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. Zia upheld the death sentence. Bhutto was hanged at Central jail, Rawalpindi, on April 4, 1979, and was buried in Village Cemetery at Garhi Khuda Baksh.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto remains a controversial figure in Pakistan. While he was hailed for being a nationalist, Bhutto was roundly criticized for opportunism and intimidating his political opponents. He gave Pakistan its third constitution, oversaw Pakistan's nuclear program, held peace talks with India, and was more of an Internationalist with a secular image. His socialist policies are blamed for slowing down Pakistan's economic progress owing to poor productivity and high costs. Bhutto is also criticized for human rights abuses perpetrated by the army in Balochistan. Many in Pakistan's military, notably the former president and former general,. Pervez Musharaf condemn Bhutto for having caused the crisis that led to the Bangladesh Liberation War. However, in spite of all the criticism—and subsequent media trials—Bhutto still remains the most popular leader of the country.
Zulfikar 'Ali Bhutto see Bhutto, Zulfikar 'Ali
Zulfiqar 'Ali Bhutto see Bhutto, Zulfikar 'Ali
Shaheed Zulfikar 'Ali Bhutto see Bhutto, Zulfikar 'Ali
Shaheed Zulfikar Bhutto see Bhutto, Zulfikar 'Ali
Bhutto, Zulfikar 'Ali (Zulfikar 'Ali Bhutto) (Zulfiqar 'Ali Bhutto) (Shaheed Zulfikar 'Ali Bhutto) (Shaheed Zulfikar Bhutto) (January 5, 1928 - April 4, 1979). President (1971-1973) and Prime Minister (1973-1977) of Pakistan. Bhutto was born into a family of landlords living in the Larkana district of the Sindh province of Pakistan. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of California in Berkeley in 1950 and later received a master’s degree in jurisprudence from Oxford University.
After teaching international law for a year at Southampton University, Bhutto returned to Pakistan in 1953 and opened a law practice. In 1958, he joined President Ayub Khan’s cabinet, and in 1963 he became foreign minister. In that capacity, he strengthened Pakistan’s ties with China and other countries in Asia and Africa.
Following the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, Bhutto, a pro-China advocate, denounced Ayub Khan’s pro-United States policies and left his cabinet in 1966. In 1967, he organized the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), with a socialist manifesto that became a rallying ground for the mass movement against Ayub Khan’s regime. Ayub Khan resigned in 1969, entrusting the government to General Yahya Khan, who reimposed martial law and promised to hold elections on the basis of universal suffrage. These elections were held in 1970, giving a majority of National Assembly seats to the Awami League, an exclusively East Pakistan based party. The refusal of Yahya Khan’s regime to accept this outcome precipitated the secession of East Pakistan (Bangladesh) in 1971.
Thereafter Bhutto, whose party had won a majority of National Assembly seats from West Pakistan, took over as head of state. A new constitution was passed in 1973, allowing for elections to be held in 1977. These resulted in another victory for Bhutto’s party. The remaining parties disputed the validity of this result and started street agitation demanding new elections. In the midst of this agitation, General Zia-ul Haq staged a coup and removed Bhutto from the office of prime minister. In September 1977, Bhutto was arrested, charged with conspiracy in a murder case involving the death of a political opponent, and condemned to death. He was executed on April 4, 1979, by the Zia regime, sparking fierce public protests.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was the founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the largest and most influential political party in Pakistan. His daughter Benazir Bhutto also served twice as prime minister. She was assassinated on December 27, 2007. Educated at the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States and University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, Bhutto was noted for his stagnating economic initiatives and repressive internal policies. He was executed in 1979 by the Supreme Court of Pakistan for authorizing the murder of a political opponent, in a move that was done under the directives of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was born to Khursheed Begum née Lakhi Bai and Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto of a prominent Sunni Muslim family. His father was Shahnawaz Bhutto. Bhutto was the son of a prominent political figure in the Indian colonial government. Zulfikar was born in his parent's residence near Larkana in what later became the province of Sindh. He was their third child — their first one, Sikandar Ali, died from pneumonia at age seven in 1914 and the second child, Imdad Ali, died of cirrhosis at the age of 39 in 1953. His father was a wealthy landlord, a zamindar, and a prominent politician in Sindh, who enjoyed an influential relationship with the officials of the British Raj. As a young boy, Bhutto moved to Worli Seaface in Bombay (now Mumbai) to study at the Cathedral and John Connon School. During this period, he also became a student activist in the Muslim League's Pakistan Movement. In 1943, his marriage was arranged with Shireen Amir Begum (died January 19, 2003 in Karachi). He later left her, however, in order to remarry. In 1947, Bhutto was admitted to the University of Southern California.
During this time, Bhutto's father, Sir Shahnawaz, played a controversial role in the affairs of the state of Junagadh (now in Gujarat). Coming to power in a palace coup as the dewan, he secured the accession of the state to Pakistan, which was ultimately negated by Indian intervention in December, 1947. In 1949, Bhutto transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned an honors degree in political science. Here he would become interested in the theories of socialism, delivering a series of lectures on the feasibility of socialism in Islamic countries. In June, 1950 Bhutto travelled to England to study law at Christ Church, Oxford. Upon finishing his studies, he was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1953 (the same school at which Muhammad Ali Jinnah studied law) .
Bhutto married his second wife, the Iranian-Kurdish Begum Nusrat Ispahani, a Shi'a Muslim, in Karachi on September 8, 1951. Their first child, a daughter, Benazir, was born in 1953. She was followed by Murtaza in 1954, a second daughter, Sanam, in 1957, and the youngest child, Shahnawaz Bhutto, in 1958. Zulfikar accepted the post of lecturer at the Sindh Muslim College, from where he was also awarded an honorary law degree by the then college President, Mr. Hassanally A. Rahman before establishing himself in a legal practice in Karachi. He also took over the management of his family's estate and business interests after his father's death.
In 1957, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto became the youngest member of Pakistan's delegation to the United Nations. He would address the United Nations Sixth Committee on Aggression on October 25, 1957 and lead Pakistan's deputation to the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Seas in 1958. In the same year, Bhutto became the youngest Pakistani cabinet minister when he was given charge of the energy ministry by President Muhammad Ayub Khan, who had seized power and declared martial law. He was subsequently promoted to head the ministries of commerce, information and industries. Bhutto became a close and trusted advisor to Ayub, rising in influence and power despite his youth and relative inexperience in politics. Bhutto aided Ayub in negotiating the Indus Water Treaty with India in 1960. In 1961, Bhutto negotiated an oil exploration agreement with the Soviet Union, which also agreed to provide economic and technical aid to Pakistan.
In 1962, Bhutto was appointed Pakistan's foreign minister. His swift rise to power also brought him national prominence and popularity. As foreign minister, Bhutto significantly transformed Pakistan's pro-Western foreign policy. While maintaining a prominent role for Pakistan within the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization and the Central Treaty Organization, Bhutto began asserting a foreign policy course for Pakistan that was independent of United States influence. Bhutto criticized the United States for providing military aid to India during and after the Sino-Indian War of 1962, which was seen as an abrogation of Pakistan's alliance with the United States. Bhutto worked to establish stronger relations with the People's Republic of China. He visited Beijing and helped Ayub negotiate trade and military agreements with the Chinese regime, which agreed to help Pakistan in a large number of military and industrial projects. Bhutto also signed the Sino-Pakistan Boundary Agreement on March 2, 1963 that transferred 750 square kilometers of territory from Pakistan-administered Kashmir to Chinese control. Bhutto asserted his belief in non-alignment, making Pakistan an influential member in non-aligned organizations. Believing in pan-Islamic unity, Bhutto developed closer relations with nations such as Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states.
Bhutto advocated hardline and confrontational policies against India over the Kashmir conflict and other issues. A brief skirmish took place in August 1965 between Indian and Pakistani forces near the international boundary in the Rann of Kutch. Bhutto joined Ayub in Tashkent to negotiate a peace treaty with the Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. Ayub and Shastri agreed to exchange prisoners of war and withdraw respective forces to pre-war boundaries. This agreement was deeply unpopular in Pakistan, causing major political unrest against Ayub's regime. Bhutto's criticism of the final agreement caused a major rift between him and Ayub Khan. Initially denying the rumors, Bhutto resigned in June, 1966 and expressed strong opposition to Ayub's regime.
Following his resignation, large crowds gathered to listen to Bhutto's speech upon his arrival in Lahore on June 21, 1967. Tapping a wave of anger and opposition against Ayub, Bhutto began travelling across the country to deliver political speeches. On November 30, 1967 Bhutto founded the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Lahore, establishing a strong base of political support in Punjab, Sindh and amongst the Muhajir communities. Bhutto's party became a part of the pro-democracy movement involving diverse political parties from all across Pakistan. PPP activists staged large protests and strikes in different parts of the country, increasing pressure on Ayub to resign. Bhutto's arrest on November 12, 1968 sparked greater political unrest. After his release, Bhutto attended the Round Table Conference called by Ayub in Rawalpindi, but refused to accept Ayub's continuation in office and the East Pakistani politician Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's Six point movement for regional autonomy.
Following Ayub's resignation, the new president General Yahya Khan promised to hold parliamentary elections on December 7, 1970. Bhutto's party won a large number of seats from constituencies in West Pakistan. However, Sheikh Mujib's Awami League won an outright majority from the constituencies located in East Pakistan. Bhutto refused to accept an Awami League government and famously promised to "break the legs" of any elected PPP member who dared to attend the inaugural session of the National Assembly of Pakistan. Capitalizing on West Pakistani fears of East Pakistani separatism, Bhutto demanded that Sheikh Mujib form a coalition with the PPP. Under substantial pressure from Bhutto and other West Pakistani political parties, Yahya postponed the inaugural session of the National Assembly after talks with Sheikh Mujib failed. Amidst popular outrage in East Pakistan, Major Ziaur Rahman, at the direction of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared the independence of "Bangladesh" on March 26, 1971 after Mujibur was arrested by the Pakistani Army, which had been ordered by Yahya to suppress political activities. While supportive of the army's genocide and working to rally international support, Bhutto distanced himself from the Yahya regime. He refused to accept Yahya's scheme to appoint Bengali politician Nurul Amin as prime minister, with Bhutto as deputy prime minister. Indian intervention in East Pakistan led to the defeat of Pakistani forces, which surrendered on December 16, 1971. Bhutto and others condemned Yahya for failing to protect Pakistan's unity. Isolated, Yahya resigned on December 20 and transferred power to Bhutto, who became the president, army commander-in-chief, as well as the first civilian chief martial law administrator.
As president, Bhutto placed Yahya under house arrest, brokered a ceasefire and ordered the release of Sheikh Mujib, who was held prisoner by the army. To implement this, Bhutto reversed the verdict of Mujib's court trial that had taken place earlier, in which the presiding Brigadier Rahimuddin Khan (later General) had sentenced Mujib to death. Appointing a new cabinet, Bhutto appointed General Gul Hasan as Chief of Army Staff. On January 2, 1972, Bhutto announced the nationalization of all major industries, including iron and steel, heavy engineering, heavy electricals, petrochemicals, cement and public utilities. A new labor policy was announced increasing workers rights and the power of trade unions. Although he came from a feudal background himself, Bhutto announced reforms limiting land ownership and a government take-over of over a million acres (4,000 km²) to distribute to landless peasants. More than 2,000 civil servants were dismissed on charges of corruption. Bhutto also dismissed the military chiefs on March 3 after they refused orders to suppress a major police strike in Punjab. He appointed General Tikka Khan as the new Chief of the Army Staff in March 1972. Bhutto felt the General would not interfere in political matters and would concentrate on rehabilitating the Pakistan Army. Bhutto convened the National Assembly on April 14, rescinded martial law on April 21 and charged the legislators with writing a new constitution.
Bhutto visited India to meet Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and negotiated a formal peace agreement and the release of 93,000 Pakistani prisoners of war. The two leaders signed the Shimla Agreement, which committed both nations to establish a new yet temporary Cease-fire Line in Kashmir and obligated them to resolve disputes peacefully through bi-lateral talks. Bhutto also promised to hold a future summit for the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute and pledged to recognize Bangladesh. Although he secured the release of Pakistani soldiers held by India, Bhutto was criticized by many in Pakistan for allegedly making too many concessions to India. It is theorized that Bhutto feared his downfall if he could not secure the release of Pakistani soldiers and the return of territory occupied by Indian forces. Bhutto established an atomic power development program and inaugurated the first Pakistani atomic reactor, built in collaboration with Canada in Karachi on November 28. In January 1973, Bhutto ordered the army to suppress a rising insurgency in the province of Balochistan and dismissed the governments in Balochistan and the Northwest Frontier Province. On March 30, 59 military officers were arrested by army troops for allegedly plotting a coup against Bhutto. Bhutto appointed then-Brigadier Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq to head a military tribunal to investigate and try the suspects. The National Assembly approved the new constitution, which Bhutto signed into effect on April 12. The constitution proclaimed an "Islamic Republic" in Pakistan with a parliamentary form of government. On August 10, Bhutto turned over the post of president to Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, assuming the office of prime minister instead.
Bhutto officially recognized Bangladesh in July. Making an official visit to Bangladesh, Bhutto was criticized in Pakistan for laying flowers at a memorial for Bangladeshi "freedom fighters." Bhutto continued to develop closer relations with China as well as Saudi Arabia and other Muslim nations. Bhutto hosted the Second Islamic Summit of Muslim nations in Lahore between February 22 and February 24 in 1974.
Bhutto, however, faced considerable pressure from Islamic religious leaders to declare the Ahmadiya communities as non-Muslims. Failing to restrain sectarian violence and rioting, Bhutto and the National Assembly amended the constitution to that effect. Bhutto intensified his nationalization program, extending government control over agricultural processing and consumer industries. Bhutto also, with advice from Admiral S.M. Ahsan, inaugurated Port Qasim, designed to expand harbor facilities near Karachi. However, the performance of the Pakistani economy declined amidst increasing bureaucracy and a decline in private sector confidence. In a surprise move in 1976, Bhutto appointed Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq to replace General Tikka Khan, surpassing five generals senior to Zia.
Bhutto began facing considerable criticism and increasing unpopularity as his term progressed. He initially targeted the leader of the opposition, Abdul Wali Khan, and his opposition National Awami Party (NAP). Despite the ideological similarity of the two parties the clash of egos both inside and outside the National Assembly became increasingly fierce and started with the Federal governments decision to oust the NAP provincial government in Balochistan for alleged secessionist activities and culminating in the banning of the party and arrest of much of its leadership after the death of Hayat Khan Sherpao, a close lieutenant of Bhutto, in a bomb blast in the frontier town of Peshawar.
Dissidence also increased within the PPP and the murder of dissident leader Ahmed Raza Kasuri's father led to public outrage and intra-party hostility as Bhutto was accused of masterminding the crime. Powerful PPP leaders such as Ghulam Mustafa Khar openly condemned Bhutto and called for protests against his regime. The political crisis in the NWFP and Balochistan intensified as civil liberties remained suspended and an estimated 100,000 troops deployed there were accused of human rights abuses and killing large numbers of civilians.
On January 8, 1977 many opposition political parties grouped to form the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA). Bhutto called fresh elections and the PNA participated in those elections with full force and managed to contest the elections jointly even though they had grave differences in their opinions and views. The PNA faced defeat but did not accept the results, accusing their opponents of rigging the election. They first claimed rigging on 14 seats and finally on 40 seats in the national assembly and boycotted the provincial elections. Provincial elections were held amidst low voter turnout and an opposition boycott. The PNA declare the newly-elected Bhutto government as illegitimate. Muslim leaders such as Maulana Maududi called for the overthrow of Bhutto's regime. Intensifying political and civil disorder prompted Bhutto to hold talks with PNA leaders, which culminated in an agreement for the dissolution of the assemblies and fresh elections under a form of government of national unity. However on July 5, 1977, Bhutto and members of his cabinet were arrested by troops under the order of General Zia.
General Zia announced that martial law had been imposed, the constitution suspended and all assemblies dissolved. Zia also ordered the arrest of senior PPP and PNA leaders but promised elections in October. Bhutto was released on July 29 and was received by a large crowd of supporters in his hometown of Larkana. He immediately began touring across Pakistan, delivering speeches to large crowds and planning his political comeback. Bhutto was arrested again on September 3 before being released on bail on September 13. Fearing yet another arrest, Bhutto named his wife, Nusrat, president of the Pakistan People's Party. Bhutto was imprisoned on September 17 and a large number of PPP leaders and activists arrested and disqualified from contesting in elections.
Bhutto's trial began on October 24 on charges of "conspiracy to murder" Ahmed Raza Kasuri. On July 5, 1977 the military, led by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, staged a coup. Zia relieved prime minister Bhutto of power, holding him in detention for a month. Zia pledged that new elections would be held in 90 days. He kept postponing the elections and publicly retorted during successive press conferences that if the elections were held in the presence of Bhutto, his party would not return to power again.
Upon his release, Bhutto traveled the country amid adulatory crowds of PPP supporters. He took the train traveling from the south to the north and on the way, would address public meetings at different stations. Several of these trains were late, some by days, in reaching their respective destinations and as a result Bhutto was banned from traveling by train. The last visit he made to the city of Multan in the province of Punjab marked the turning point in Bhutto's political career and ultimately, his life. In spite of the administration's efforts to block the gathering, the crowd was so large that it became disorderly, providing an opportunity for the administration to declare that Bhutto had been taken into custody because the people were against him and it had become necessary to protect him from the masses for his own safety.
On September 3 the Army arrested Bhutto again on charges of authorizing the murder of a political opponent in March 1974. A 35-year-old politician Ahmed Raza Kasuri tried to run as a PPP candidate in elections, despite having previously left the party. The Pakistan Peoples Party rebuffed him. Three years earlier, Kasuri and his family had been ambushed, leaving Kasuri's father, Nawab Mohammad Ahmad Khan, dead. Kasuri claimed that he was the actual target, accusing Bhutto of being the mastermind. Kasuri later claimed that he had been the victim of 15 assassination attempts.
Bhutto was released 10 days after his arrest after a judge, Justice KMA Samadani, found the evidence contradictory and incomplete. Justice Samadani had to pay for this; he was immediately removed from the court and placed at the disposal of the law ministry. Three days later Zia arrested Bhutto again on the same charges, this time under martial law. When the PPP organized demonstrations among Bhutto's supporters, Zia canceled the upcoming elections.
Bhutto was arraigned before the High Court of Lahore instead of in a lower court, thus automatically depriving him of one level of appeal. The judge who had granted him bail was removed. Five new judges were appointed, headed by Chief Justice of Lahore High Court Maulvi Mushtaq Ali, who denied bail. The trial lasted five months, and Bhutto appeared in court on a dock specially built for the trial.
Proceedings began on October 24, 1977. Masood Mahmood, the director general of the Federal Security Force (since renamed the Federal Investigation Agency), testified against Bhutto. Mahmood had been arrested immediately after Zia's coup and had been imprisoned for two months prior to taking the stand. In his testimony, he claimed Bhutto had ordered Kasuri's assassination and that four members of the Federal Security Force had organized the ambush on Bhutto's orders.
The four alleged assassins were arrested and later confessed. They were brought into court as co-accused but one of them recanted his testimony, declaring that it had been extracted from him under torture. The following day, the witness was not present in court; the prosecution claimed that he had suddenly fallen ill.
Bhutto's defense challenged the prosecution with proof from an army logbook the prosecution had submitted. It showed that the jeep allegedly driven during the attack on Kasuri was not even in Lahore at the time. The prosecution had the logbook disregarded as incorrect. During the defense's cross-examination of witnesses, the bench often interrupted questioning. The 706-page official transcript contained none of the objections or inconsistencies in the evidence pointed out by the defense.
When Bhutto began his testimony on January 25, 1978, Chief Justice Maulvi Mustaq closed the courtroom to all observers. Bhutto responded by refusing to say any more. Bhutto demanded a retrial, accusing the Chief Justice of bias, after Mustaq allegedly insulted Bhutto's home province. The court refused his demand.
On March 18, 1978, Bhutto was declared guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Bhutto did not seek an appeal. While he was transferred to a cell in Rawalpindi central jail, his family appealed on his behalf, and a hearing before the Supreme Court commenced in May. Bhutto was given one week to prepare. Bhutto issued a thorough rejoinder to the charges, although Zia blocked its publication. Chief Justice S. Anwarul Haq adjourned the court until the end of July 1978, supposedly because five of the nine appeals court judges were willing to overrule the Lahore verdict. One of the pro-Bhutto judges was due to retire in July.
Chief Justice S. Anwarul Haq presided over the trial, despite being close to Zia, even serving as Acting President when Zia was out of the country. Bhutto's lawyers managed to secure Bhutto the right to conduct his own defense before the Supreme Court. On December 18, 1978, Bhutto made his appearance in public before a packed courtroom in Rawalpindi. By this time he had been on death row for 9 months and had gone without fresh water for the previous 25 days. He addressed the court for four days, speaking without notes.
The appeal was completed on December 23, 1978. On February 6, 1979, the Supreme Court issued a guilty verdict, a decision reached by a bare 4-to-3 majority. The Bhutto family had seven days in which to appeal. The court granted a stay of execution while it studied the petition. By February 24, 1979 when the next court hearing began, appeals for clemency arrived from many heads of state. Zia said that the appeals amounted to trade union activity among politicians.
On March 24, 1979 the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. Zia upheld the death sentence. Bhutto was hanged at Central jail, Rawalpindi, on April 4, 1979, and was buried in Village Cemetery at Garhi Khuda Baksh.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto remains a controversial figure in Pakistan. While he was hailed for being a nationalist, Bhutto was roundly criticized for opportunism and intimidating his political opponents. He gave Pakistan its third constitution, oversaw Pakistan's nuclear program, held peace talks with India, and was more of an Internationalist with a secular image. His socialist policies are blamed for slowing down Pakistan's economic progress owing to poor productivity and high costs. Bhutto is also criticized for human rights abuses perpetrated by the army in Balochistan. Many in Pakistan's military, notably the former president and former general,. Pervez Musharaf condemn Bhutto for having caused the crisis that led to the Bangladesh Liberation War. However, in spite of all the criticism—and subsequent media trials—Bhutto still remains the most popular leader of the country.
Zulfikar 'Ali Bhutto see Bhutto, Zulfikar 'Ali
Zulfiqar 'Ali Bhutto see Bhutto, Zulfikar 'Ali
Shaheed Zulfikar 'Ali Bhutto see Bhutto, Zulfikar 'Ali
Shaheed Zulfikar Bhutto see Bhutto, Zulfikar 'Ali
Bigi
Bigi (Musa Yarullah Bigi) (December 24, 1874 - 1949). Volga-Ural Muslim philosopher and religious scholar. Born in Rostov on the Don, Bigi was the son of the mullah Yarullah Devlikam, originally from the Kikine village of Penza Gubernia, and of Fatma, the daughter of Imam Habibullah of the same village. He attended the Kulbue madrasah in Kazan but left without graduating and returned to Rostov to enroll in the Russian science gymnasium from which he graduated in 1895, when he left for Bukhara to continue his Islamic studies. After four years, he returned to Rostov only to leave again for an extended Middle Eastern trip.
Bigi traveled to Istanbul and then to Cairo, where he studied at al-Azhar and attended classes offered by Muhammad ‘Abduh. After four years, studying Islamic philosophy, theology, and jurisprudence, he returned to Rostov and married, but instead of seeking employment as a mullah or madrasah teacher and settling down, he left his wife Asma in his mother’s care and went to St. Petersburg to attend classes at the Law Faculty. As a scholar interested in tafsir (Qur’anic exegesis) and fiqh (law), he wanted to acquire the knowledge necessary to compare the Islamic and Western legal systems. Bigi’s closer acquaintance with Russian society during his stay in St. Petersburg resulted in a politicization of his thought and a deeper appreciation of Islam as a political force. While in St. Petersburg (1905-1917), he contributed eighteen essays to the Pan-Islamist journal Ulfat. He continued, however, to dedicate most of his time to research and scholarly writing, and his only active involvement in politics was the contribution he made as secretary to the Muslim Congress.
In 1910 and 1911, Bigi was employed as teacher of Arabic and Islamic history and theology at the Khosaeniya madrasah in Orenburg. As a scholar and teacher, Bigi was an exemplary practitioner of ijtihad (interpretation of Islam), but some of his interpretations were considered so far-fetched by the religious establishment that he was forced to leave Orenburg, despite the support of the well-respected scholar Rizaeddin Fakhreddin.
The revolutions of 1917 triggered Bigi’s hope for the beginning of an era of freedom for Muslims, and he chose not to leave Russia. Soon, however, he was to face bitter disappointment. In response to Bukharin’s "ABC of Communism," Bigi wrote in 1920 an “ABC of Islam” (Islam alifbasi), which he presented to the Congress of Scholars in Ufa. Of the work’s 236 points, 68 concerned the situation of the Muslims in Russia, and the remainder were devoted to Muslims elsewhere. The government retaliated with arrest and imprisonment, but after three months Bigi was released owing to a press campaign launched in Turkey and Finland on his behalf. Despite this experience, Bigi chose to stay in Soviet Russia and in 1926 participated in the Muslim Congress at Mecca representing his country. A year later he received permission to perform the pilgrimage. Bigi returned to Russia after this trip as well, because he still believed that he could serve his people by fighting to keep their heritage alive.
By 1930, however, even the idealist Bigi understood that all doors had been closed and neither political nor cultural pluralism was acceptable to the leaders of Soviet Russia. Consequently, he left his wife and six children behind and fled Russia. He stopped in Chinese Turkestan and then went to Afghanistan and India; in 1931 he traveled to Egypt and Finland; and in 1932 he took part in the first Congress of Turkish History in Ankara. The years of 1933 to 1937 took Bigi to Finland, Germany, and the Middle East, while in 1938 he traveled to China and Japan. In 1939, he went to India and Afghanistan with the intention of settling in the latter, but after being imprisoned by the British for eighteen months, he went to India instead. Bigi remained there until 1947, when he went to Egypt. He died there on October 25, 1949, having spent his last days in poverty in a charitable hospice.
Musa Yarullah Bigi left 122 works. The majority were written in Arabic and were devoted to issues of Islamic theology and jurisprudence; others addressed the social, political, and religious life of the Muslims of Russia and were written in Tatar. Several of his scholarly endeavors should be noted as illustrations of Bigi’s qualities as mujtahid. In Sherhu’l-luzumiyat, a volume of commentaries on the work of the tenth-century Islamic poet and philosopher al-Ma’ari, he argued, sharing al-Ma’ari’s skepticism, that none of the existing religions could be pleasing to God because they all contained moral if not physical oppression.
Bigi pursued the same iconoclastic line of thought in Rahmat-i ilahiya burhannari (The Storms of God’s Clemency), which challenged the official dogma that God’s mercy and forgiveness were not extended to unbelievers, arguing that on the contrary, God extended his forgiveness to everyone. Bigi was attacked by conservative ‘ulama’ through their publication Din va magishat (Religion and Life), as well as by liberal mullahs and jaded (modernist) intellectuals. One of the most vocal criticisms coming from the jaded reformers was articulated by Ismail Gasprali (Gasprinskii) in his article “Woe from Philosophy.” Fakhreddin was among the few defenders of Bigi, but he stated the issue from a different perspective, pointing to the historical precedents for the same interpretation.
When he discovered editorial changes in one of the copies of the Qur’an, Bigi was relentless in his criticism of mullahs, arguing that the changes reflected the ignorance of those who had tampered with the original text, whom he attacked in Tarikhu’l Qur’an va’l-masahif (A History of the Qur’an and Qur’anic Texts). Bigi also advocated translation of the Qur’an into Tatar, which he felt would contribute to making individual religious experience a more meaningful and conscientious act. He stressed that in a civilized world, it was the duty of the community to translate the Qur’an into the languages of the people and to ascertain the accuracy of existing translations. Bigi himself worked on a Tatar translation of the Qur’an, but it may have been destroyed together with his personal archives after his departure from Russia.
Bigi wrote extensively on issues concerning the position of women in Islam (Khatun, Aila masalalare, Hukuku’n-nisa fi’l-Islam); Sunnah and sharia‘ah (Kitabu’s-sunna); Shariat esaslari; and the social and political life of Russian Muslims (Islahat esaslari; Khalq nazarinda bir nicha masale). His most important contributions to Islamic thought, however, are his ijtihad works, of which two more deserve attention: Uzun kunlarde ruza (Fasting during Long Days), and Buyuk mevzularda ufak fikirlar (Small Thoughts on Big Issues). In the first essay, he discusses the ritual obligation of fasting with regard to Muslims living in the far north where the length of daylight and darkness does not coincide with that of the Islamic heartlands and renders a sharp criticism to dogmatics. In the second, he criticizes those who opposed Sufism and Sufi brotherhoods. Bigi valued the philosophical message of mysticism and was interested in the Sufi orders, and even in Christian monasticism.
Despite the breadth and originality of his thoughts and writings, Bigi did not have a strong impact on either Islamic thought in Russia or elsewhere, probably in large part because the door to Islamic studies was closed in Russia after 1917, and his works remained unknown. After leaving his country, he was socially and intellectually an outsider; although he was respected for his knowledge, his wanderings prevented him from planting the seeds of his ijtihad thought firmly in the soil of any Muslim country.
Musa Yarullah Bigi see Bigi
Bigi (Musa Yarullah Bigi) (December 24, 1874 - 1949). Volga-Ural Muslim philosopher and religious scholar. Born in Rostov on the Don, Bigi was the son of the mullah Yarullah Devlikam, originally from the Kikine village of Penza Gubernia, and of Fatma, the daughter of Imam Habibullah of the same village. He attended the Kulbue madrasah in Kazan but left without graduating and returned to Rostov to enroll in the Russian science gymnasium from which he graduated in 1895, when he left for Bukhara to continue his Islamic studies. After four years, he returned to Rostov only to leave again for an extended Middle Eastern trip.
Bigi traveled to Istanbul and then to Cairo, where he studied at al-Azhar and attended classes offered by Muhammad ‘Abduh. After four years, studying Islamic philosophy, theology, and jurisprudence, he returned to Rostov and married, but instead of seeking employment as a mullah or madrasah teacher and settling down, he left his wife Asma in his mother’s care and went to St. Petersburg to attend classes at the Law Faculty. As a scholar interested in tafsir (Qur’anic exegesis) and fiqh (law), he wanted to acquire the knowledge necessary to compare the Islamic and Western legal systems. Bigi’s closer acquaintance with Russian society during his stay in St. Petersburg resulted in a politicization of his thought and a deeper appreciation of Islam as a political force. While in St. Petersburg (1905-1917), he contributed eighteen essays to the Pan-Islamist journal Ulfat. He continued, however, to dedicate most of his time to research and scholarly writing, and his only active involvement in politics was the contribution he made as secretary to the Muslim Congress.
In 1910 and 1911, Bigi was employed as teacher of Arabic and Islamic history and theology at the Khosaeniya madrasah in Orenburg. As a scholar and teacher, Bigi was an exemplary practitioner of ijtihad (interpretation of Islam), but some of his interpretations were considered so far-fetched by the religious establishment that he was forced to leave Orenburg, despite the support of the well-respected scholar Rizaeddin Fakhreddin.
The revolutions of 1917 triggered Bigi’s hope for the beginning of an era of freedom for Muslims, and he chose not to leave Russia. Soon, however, he was to face bitter disappointment. In response to Bukharin’s "ABC of Communism," Bigi wrote in 1920 an “ABC of Islam” (Islam alifbasi), which he presented to the Congress of Scholars in Ufa. Of the work’s 236 points, 68 concerned the situation of the Muslims in Russia, and the remainder were devoted to Muslims elsewhere. The government retaliated with arrest and imprisonment, but after three months Bigi was released owing to a press campaign launched in Turkey and Finland on his behalf. Despite this experience, Bigi chose to stay in Soviet Russia and in 1926 participated in the Muslim Congress at Mecca representing his country. A year later he received permission to perform the pilgrimage. Bigi returned to Russia after this trip as well, because he still believed that he could serve his people by fighting to keep their heritage alive.
By 1930, however, even the idealist Bigi understood that all doors had been closed and neither political nor cultural pluralism was acceptable to the leaders of Soviet Russia. Consequently, he left his wife and six children behind and fled Russia. He stopped in Chinese Turkestan and then went to Afghanistan and India; in 1931 he traveled to Egypt and Finland; and in 1932 he took part in the first Congress of Turkish History in Ankara. The years of 1933 to 1937 took Bigi to Finland, Germany, and the Middle East, while in 1938 he traveled to China and Japan. In 1939, he went to India and Afghanistan with the intention of settling in the latter, but after being imprisoned by the British for eighteen months, he went to India instead. Bigi remained there until 1947, when he went to Egypt. He died there on October 25, 1949, having spent his last days in poverty in a charitable hospice.
Musa Yarullah Bigi left 122 works. The majority were written in Arabic and were devoted to issues of Islamic theology and jurisprudence; others addressed the social, political, and religious life of the Muslims of Russia and were written in Tatar. Several of his scholarly endeavors should be noted as illustrations of Bigi’s qualities as mujtahid. In Sherhu’l-luzumiyat, a volume of commentaries on the work of the tenth-century Islamic poet and philosopher al-Ma’ari, he argued, sharing al-Ma’ari’s skepticism, that none of the existing religions could be pleasing to God because they all contained moral if not physical oppression.
Bigi pursued the same iconoclastic line of thought in Rahmat-i ilahiya burhannari (The Storms of God’s Clemency), which challenged the official dogma that God’s mercy and forgiveness were not extended to unbelievers, arguing that on the contrary, God extended his forgiveness to everyone. Bigi was attacked by conservative ‘ulama’ through their publication Din va magishat (Religion and Life), as well as by liberal mullahs and jaded (modernist) intellectuals. One of the most vocal criticisms coming from the jaded reformers was articulated by Ismail Gasprali (Gasprinskii) in his article “Woe from Philosophy.” Fakhreddin was among the few defenders of Bigi, but he stated the issue from a different perspective, pointing to the historical precedents for the same interpretation.
When he discovered editorial changes in one of the copies of the Qur’an, Bigi was relentless in his criticism of mullahs, arguing that the changes reflected the ignorance of those who had tampered with the original text, whom he attacked in Tarikhu’l Qur’an va’l-masahif (A History of the Qur’an and Qur’anic Texts). Bigi also advocated translation of the Qur’an into Tatar, which he felt would contribute to making individual religious experience a more meaningful and conscientious act. He stressed that in a civilized world, it was the duty of the community to translate the Qur’an into the languages of the people and to ascertain the accuracy of existing translations. Bigi himself worked on a Tatar translation of the Qur’an, but it may have been destroyed together with his personal archives after his departure from Russia.
Bigi wrote extensively on issues concerning the position of women in Islam (Khatun, Aila masalalare, Hukuku’n-nisa fi’l-Islam); Sunnah and sharia‘ah (Kitabu’s-sunna); Shariat esaslari; and the social and political life of Russian Muslims (Islahat esaslari; Khalq nazarinda bir nicha masale). His most important contributions to Islamic thought, however, are his ijtihad works, of which two more deserve attention: Uzun kunlarde ruza (Fasting during Long Days), and Buyuk mevzularda ufak fikirlar (Small Thoughts on Big Issues). In the first essay, he discusses the ritual obligation of fasting with regard to Muslims living in the far north where the length of daylight and darkness does not coincide with that of the Islamic heartlands and renders a sharp criticism to dogmatics. In the second, he criticizes those who opposed Sufism and Sufi brotherhoods. Bigi valued the philosophical message of mysticism and was interested in the Sufi orders, and even in Christian monasticism.
Despite the breadth and originality of his thoughts and writings, Bigi did not have a strong impact on either Islamic thought in Russia or elsewhere, probably in large part because the door to Islamic studies was closed in Russia after 1917, and his works remained unknown. After leaving his country, he was socially and intellectually an outsider; although he was respected for his knowledge, his wanderings prevented him from planting the seeds of his ijtihad thought firmly in the soil of any Muslim country.
Musa Yarullah Bigi see Bigi
Bihbahani
Bihbahani ('Abd Allah Bihbahani) (1840-1910). Iranian religious scholar and one of the main leaders of the Constitutional Revolution. In 1891, alone among prominent clerics of Tehran, he opposed the celebrated tobacco boycott, thereby gratifying the prime minister of the day and the British legation. In the following decade, he gradually assumed a more patriotic stance, however, denouncing the extravagance of the court and its subordination to Russia. In November 1905, he concluded an alliance with Sayyid Muhammad Tabataba’i, a respected and enlightened religious leader, to seek fundamental changes in the government. This alliance is commonly regarded as the origin of the Constitutional Revolution. Bihbahani played a leading role in all the events of the movement, himself entering the Majlis that resulted from it. He was assassinated on July 16, 1910 by four men linked to a secularist group in the Majlis (parliament).
'Abd Allah Bihbahani see Bihbahani
Bihbahani ('Abd Allah Bihbahani) (1840-1910). Iranian religious scholar and one of the main leaders of the Constitutional Revolution. In 1891, alone among prominent clerics of Tehran, he opposed the celebrated tobacco boycott, thereby gratifying the prime minister of the day and the British legation. In the following decade, he gradually assumed a more patriotic stance, however, denouncing the extravagance of the court and its subordination to Russia. In November 1905, he concluded an alliance with Sayyid Muhammad Tabataba’i, a respected and enlightened religious leader, to seek fundamental changes in the government. This alliance is commonly regarded as the origin of the Constitutional Revolution. Bihbahani played a leading role in all the events of the movement, himself entering the Majlis that resulted from it. He was assassinated on July 16, 1910 by four men linked to a secularist group in the Majlis (parliament).
'Abd Allah Bihbahani see Bihbahani
Bihbihani
Bihbihani (Aqa Sayyid Muhammad Baqir Bihbihani) (Muhammad Baqir Bihbahani) (c.1705- c.1792). Shi‘ite mujtahid of Persia and proponent of the Usuliyya. He was commonly regarded by his contemporaries as the “renewer” (in Arabic, mujaddid) of the eighteenth century. By the end of his life, he had been able almost completely to uproot the influence of the Akhbariyya from the Shi‘ite shrines in Iraq and to establish the Usuliyya as normative for all of the Twelver Shi‘is. He was in effect the ancestor of all those mujtahids who have sought since his time to assert a guiding role in Iranian society.
Born in Isfahan, Bihbihani was taken as a child by his father -- a pupil of Muhammad Baqir Majlisi -- to Karbala in Iraq, which was to be his home for the rest of his life. After completing his studies in Karbala, Bihbahani first intended to return to Iran, but he decided to stay behind to combat the rival Akhbari school of jurisprudence. A vigorous debater and prolific writer, he attained the goal he had set himself and uprooted the Akhbaris from Karbala and other centers of Shi‘ite learning. The numerous pupils he trained returned to Iran in the early nineteenth century to inaugurate a tradition of assertive religious leadership that has continued down to the present day. {See also Akhbariyya; Majlisi, Muhammad Baqir; mujtahid; Shi'a; Twelvers; and Usuliyya.}
Aqa Sayyid Muhammad Baqir Bihbihani see Bihbihani
Muhammad Baqir Bihbahani see Bihbihani
“renewer” see Bihbihani
Bihbihani (Aqa Sayyid Muhammad Baqir Bihbihani) (Muhammad Baqir Bihbahani) (c.1705- c.1792). Shi‘ite mujtahid of Persia and proponent of the Usuliyya. He was commonly regarded by his contemporaries as the “renewer” (in Arabic, mujaddid) of the eighteenth century. By the end of his life, he had been able almost completely to uproot the influence of the Akhbariyya from the Shi‘ite shrines in Iraq and to establish the Usuliyya as normative for all of the Twelver Shi‘is. He was in effect the ancestor of all those mujtahids who have sought since his time to assert a guiding role in Iranian society.
Born in Isfahan, Bihbihani was taken as a child by his father -- a pupil of Muhammad Baqir Majlisi -- to Karbala in Iraq, which was to be his home for the rest of his life. After completing his studies in Karbala, Bihbahani first intended to return to Iran, but he decided to stay behind to combat the rival Akhbari school of jurisprudence. A vigorous debater and prolific writer, he attained the goal he had set himself and uprooted the Akhbaris from Karbala and other centers of Shi‘ite learning. The numerous pupils he trained returned to Iran in the early nineteenth century to inaugurate a tradition of assertive religious leadership that has continued down to the present day. {See also Akhbariyya; Majlisi, Muhammad Baqir; mujtahid; Shi'a; Twelvers; and Usuliyya.}
Aqa Sayyid Muhammad Baqir Bihbihani see Bihbihani
Muhammad Baqir Bihbahani see Bihbihani
“renewer” see Bihbihani
Bihzad
Bihzad (Kamal al-Din Bihzad) (Ostad Kamal od-din Bihzad) (c.1450-1536). Persian illustrator (miniature and manuscript painter). His patrons were the poet Mir ‘Ali Shir Nawa’i, the Timurid ruler in Khurasan, Husayn Bayqara (who reigned from 1470 to 1506) and the Safavid Shahs Isma‘il I and Tahmasp I. Born in Herat (in present day northwest Afghanistan), his artistic activity began around 1480 at the Timurid court of Sultan Husain Baiqara, where his first patron was Ali Shir Neva’i. Bihzad’s name is synonymous with the Timurid style of painting (sometimes called the Herat school), which reached its high point under his direction in the second half of the fifteenth century. Bihzad’s work represented the consummation of a new style of painting, characterized by refinement of composition, lifelike representation, a heightened sense of pictorial drama, and perfection of color technique. After the conquest of Herat by the Safavids in 1510, Bihzad entered the service of the Safavid Shah Isma‘il in Tabriz, where he was appointed head of the royal library and artists’ ateliers in 1522. Not only did he exert a great influence on the development of the Safavid style of painting, but, through his numerous pupils, the Timurid style was carried to Bukhara, where Timurid artistic traditions were preserved until the late sixteenth century under the patronage of the Shaibanid Uzbeks, as well as to the Mughal courts of India.
Bihzad was born in Herat (now in Afghanistan) and was taught by his guardian, the painter Mirak Naqqash (fl. 1494–1507). Bihzad worked in the royal library of the Timurid rulers, where an academy of scholars, calligraphers, and artists codified, copied, and illustrated classical works. In 1510, under the patronage of the new Safavid dynasty, Bihzad accompanied the court to Tabriz, Persia (now Iran). There, as director of the royal library after 1522, he influenced Persian painting and, through his works and his students, that of India and Turkey as well.
Of the many works completed in the style of Bihzad, scholars ascribe 32 to him. All were produced at Herat between 1486 and 1495. In these illustrations, richly clad courtiers move amid palaces, flowering gardens, and mountain landscapes. Bihzad developed new, subtle color relationships and a highly refined compositional skill. His genius won him the epithet "marvel of his age."
Kamal al-Din Bihzad see Bihzad
Ostad Kamal od-din Bihzad see Bihzad
Bihzad (Kamal al-Din Bihzad) (Ostad Kamal od-din Bihzad) (c.1450-1536). Persian illustrator (miniature and manuscript painter). His patrons were the poet Mir ‘Ali Shir Nawa’i, the Timurid ruler in Khurasan, Husayn Bayqara (who reigned from 1470 to 1506) and the Safavid Shahs Isma‘il I and Tahmasp I. Born in Herat (in present day northwest Afghanistan), his artistic activity began around 1480 at the Timurid court of Sultan Husain Baiqara, where his first patron was Ali Shir Neva’i. Bihzad’s name is synonymous with the Timurid style of painting (sometimes called the Herat school), which reached its high point under his direction in the second half of the fifteenth century. Bihzad’s work represented the consummation of a new style of painting, characterized by refinement of composition, lifelike representation, a heightened sense of pictorial drama, and perfection of color technique. After the conquest of Herat by the Safavids in 1510, Bihzad entered the service of the Safavid Shah Isma‘il in Tabriz, where he was appointed head of the royal library and artists’ ateliers in 1522. Not only did he exert a great influence on the development of the Safavid style of painting, but, through his numerous pupils, the Timurid style was carried to Bukhara, where Timurid artistic traditions were preserved until the late sixteenth century under the patronage of the Shaibanid Uzbeks, as well as to the Mughal courts of India.
Bihzad was born in Herat (now in Afghanistan) and was taught by his guardian, the painter Mirak Naqqash (fl. 1494–1507). Bihzad worked in the royal library of the Timurid rulers, where an academy of scholars, calligraphers, and artists codified, copied, and illustrated classical works. In 1510, under the patronage of the new Safavid dynasty, Bihzad accompanied the court to Tabriz, Persia (now Iran). There, as director of the royal library after 1522, he influenced Persian painting and, through his works and his students, that of India and Turkey as well.
Of the many works completed in the style of Bihzad, scholars ascribe 32 to him. All were produced at Herat between 1486 and 1495. In these illustrations, richly clad courtiers move amid palaces, flowering gardens, and mountain landscapes. Bihzad developed new, subtle color relationships and a highly refined compositional skill. His genius won him the epithet "marvel of his age."
Kamal al-Din Bihzad see Bihzad
Ostad Kamal od-din Bihzad see Bihzad
Bilal
Bilal (Bilal ibn Rabah) (Ibn Hamama) (Bilal ibn Habashi) (Bilal ibn Rabah) (Bilal ibn Riyah) (d.c.641). Manumitted slave of Abyssinian (Ethiopian) origin whose early interest in Islam and stentorian voice won him his freedom and the honor of being the first person to hold the position of muezzin, calling the Muslims to prayer. After being purchased and freed by Abu Bakr, he lived in Abu Bakr’s house, made the Hijra with Muhammad, and accompanied Muhammad on his campaigns. He was one of only five non-Arabs to receive stipends from the pay register drawn up by the caliph ‘Umar I.
Bilal died at the age of sixty around 641 at Damascus after having participated in the Wars of the Conquest. Today, Bilal is particularly honored as being the first Muslim of African descent -- the first Black Muslim.
Bilal ibn Rabah or Bilal al-Habeshi was an Ethiopian born in Mecca in the late 6th century, sometime between 578 and 582.
The Prophet Muhammad chose Bilal as his muezzin, effectively making him the first official muezzin of the Islamic faith. He was among the slaves freed by Abu Bakr and was known for his beautiful voice with which he called people to their prayers. His name can also be spelled as, "Bilal ibn Riyah" or "ibn Rabah" and he is sometimes known as "Bilal al-Habashi" or "Bilal the Ethiopian". He died sometime between 638 to 642, dying when he was just over sixty years old.
Bilal ibn Rabah is said to have been one of the most trusted and loyal Sahaba (companions of Muhammad) and was one of Ali's earliest and most loyal followers. His respected stature during the birth of Islam is often cited by Muslims as evidence of the importance of pluralism and racial equality in the foundation of the religion.
In 622, the year of the Hijra, Bilal migrated to Medina and over the next decade accompanied Muhammad on all his military expeditions. According to Islamic tradition, Bilal served as Muhammad's mace-bearer and steward, and as a muezzin revered by Muslims for his majestically sonorous renditions of the adhan. Bilal also carried Muhammad's spear, which was used from 624 onward to point the direction of prayer.
He fought in the Battle of Badr, in the aftermath of which he killed his former master, Umayyah ibn Khalaf, in spite of the protestation of Umayyah's capturer and long-time friend Abdur Rahman bin Awf. Bilal was also present in all of the major events and battles, including the battles of Uhud and Battle of the Trench.
Bilal's finest hour came in January 630, on an occasion regarded as one of the most hallowed moments in Islamic history. After the Muslim forces had captured Mecca, Muhammad's muezzin ascended to the top of the Kaaba to call the believers to prayer, - the first time the call to prayer was heard within Islam's holiest city..
There are contradictory reports about what happened to Bilal after the death of Muhammad in 632. What seems clear is that at some point Bilal accompanied the Muslim armies to Syria.
Bilal died there between 638 and 642, though the exact date of death and place of burial are disputed.
If there is some disagreement concerning the hard facts of Bilal's life and death, his importance on a number of levels is incontestable. Muezzin guilds, especially those in Turkey and Africa, have traditionally venerated the original practitioner of their noble profession, and African Muslims as a whole feel a special closeness and kinship to him. After all, he was an Ethiopian who had been exceptionally close to Muhammad, and is a model of steadfastness and devotion to the faith. The story of Bilal, in fact, remains the classic and most frequently cited demonstration that in Muhammad's eyes, the measure of a man was neither nationality nor social status nor race, but piety.
Bilal ibn Rabah see Bilal
Ibn Hamama see Bilal
Bilal al-Habeshi
B see Bilal
Bilal the Ethiopian see Bilal
Bilal (Bilal ibn Rabah) (Ibn Hamama) (Bilal ibn Habashi) (Bilal ibn Rabah) (Bilal ibn Riyah) (d.c.641). Manumitted slave of Abyssinian (Ethiopian) origin whose early interest in Islam and stentorian voice won him his freedom and the honor of being the first person to hold the position of muezzin, calling the Muslims to prayer. After being purchased and freed by Abu Bakr, he lived in Abu Bakr’s house, made the Hijra with Muhammad, and accompanied Muhammad on his campaigns. He was one of only five non-Arabs to receive stipends from the pay register drawn up by the caliph ‘Umar I.
Bilal died at the age of sixty around 641 at Damascus after having participated in the Wars of the Conquest. Today, Bilal is particularly honored as being the first Muslim of African descent -- the first Black Muslim.
Bilal ibn Rabah or Bilal al-Habeshi was an Ethiopian born in Mecca in the late 6th century, sometime between 578 and 582.
The Prophet Muhammad chose Bilal as his muezzin, effectively making him the first official muezzin of the Islamic faith. He was among the slaves freed by Abu Bakr and was known for his beautiful voice with which he called people to their prayers. His name can also be spelled as, "Bilal ibn Riyah" or "ibn Rabah" and he is sometimes known as "Bilal al-Habashi" or "Bilal the Ethiopian". He died sometime between 638 to 642, dying when he was just over sixty years old.
Bilal ibn Rabah is said to have been one of the most trusted and loyal Sahaba (companions of Muhammad) and was one of Ali's earliest and most loyal followers. His respected stature during the birth of Islam is often cited by Muslims as evidence of the importance of pluralism and racial equality in the foundation of the religion.
In 622, the year of the Hijra, Bilal migrated to Medina and over the next decade accompanied Muhammad on all his military expeditions. According to Islamic tradition, Bilal served as Muhammad's mace-bearer and steward, and as a muezzin revered by Muslims for his majestically sonorous renditions of the adhan. Bilal also carried Muhammad's spear, which was used from 624 onward to point the direction of prayer.
He fought in the Battle of Badr, in the aftermath of which he killed his former master, Umayyah ibn Khalaf, in spite of the protestation of Umayyah's capturer and long-time friend Abdur Rahman bin Awf. Bilal was also present in all of the major events and battles, including the battles of Uhud and Battle of the Trench.
Bilal's finest hour came in January 630, on an occasion regarded as one of the most hallowed moments in Islamic history. After the Muslim forces had captured Mecca, Muhammad's muezzin ascended to the top of the Kaaba to call the believers to prayer, - the first time the call to prayer was heard within Islam's holiest city..
There are contradictory reports about what happened to Bilal after the death of Muhammad in 632. What seems clear is that at some point Bilal accompanied the Muslim armies to Syria.
Bilal died there between 638 and 642, though the exact date of death and place of burial are disputed.
If there is some disagreement concerning the hard facts of Bilal's life and death, his importance on a number of levels is incontestable. Muezzin guilds, especially those in Turkey and Africa, have traditionally venerated the original practitioner of their noble profession, and African Muslims as a whole feel a special closeness and kinship to him. After all, he was an Ethiopian who had been exceptionally close to Muhammad, and is a model of steadfastness and devotion to the faith. The story of Bilal, in fact, remains the classic and most frequently cited demonstration that in Muhammad's eyes, the measure of a man was neither nationality nor social status nor race, but piety.
Bilal ibn Rabah see Bilal
Ibn Hamama see Bilal
Bilal al-Habeshi
B see Bilal
Bilal the Ethiopian see Bilal
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