Seventeen years have passed since the tragic assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s first female Prime Minister, but the truth behind her death remains elusive. On December 27, 2007, Bhutto was killed in a gun and bomb attack during an election rally in Rawalpindi, a shocking event that left the nation reeling.
Despite her party, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), holding power multiple times since, no conclusive answers have been provided to the public regarding her murder.
Several parties have been implicated in the assassination, including al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) founder Baitullah Mehsud, and former President General Pervez Musharraf.
In the years following the assassination, two police officers, Saud Aziz and Khurram Shehzad, were sentenced for negligence, but key suspects were either killed in military operations or found not to have been involved. The investigation, involving Scotland Yard and a UN commission, suggested the involvement of military officials, but these findings were dismissed by the PPP government.
The case, which has seen over 300 hearings, remains open with lingering doubts. While TTP leader Noor Wali Mehsud admitted to the group’s role in the attack in his book, the question of who ordered the assassination and the broader conspiracy remains unanswered.
As appeals against the convictions of the two police officers are still pending, the mystery of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination continues to haunt Pakistan, leaving a painful void in its pursuit of justice and accountability.