Murtaza Bhutto Criminal

Mir Ghulam Murtaza Bhutto (18 September 1954 – 20 September 1996), was a Pakistani politician and leader of al-Zulfiqar, a terrorist organisation operating in Pakistan. The son of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Murtaza founded al-Zulfiqar after his father was overthrown and executed in 1979 by the military regime of General Zia-ul-Haq. In 1981, he claimed responsibility for the murder of conservative politician Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi, and the hijacking of a Pakistan International Airlines aircraft from Karachi, during which a hostage was killed. In exile in Afghanistan, Murtaza was sentenced to death in absentia by a military tribunal.He returned to Pakistan in 1993 and was arrested for terrorism on the orders of his sister, then-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Released on bail, Murtaza successfully contested elections to the Sindh Provincial Assembly, becoming a vocal critic of Benazir and her husband Asif Ali Zardari. After increasing tensions between the two, he was shot dead along with six associates in a police encounter near his home in Karachi on 20 September 1996. Benazir's government was dismissed a month later by President Farooq Leghari primarily citing Murtaza's death and corruption. Zardari was arrested and indicted for Murtaza's murder, but acquitted in 2008. Murtaza's own faction of his father's Pakistan People's Party, Shaheed Bhutto, remains active in politics.

Personal facts

Murtaza Bhutto
Birth dateSeptember 18, 1954
Birth place
Karachi , Pakistan
Date of deathSeptember 20, 1996
Place of death
Karachi , Pakistan
Parents
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Nusrat Bhutto
Spouse
Ghinwa Bhutto

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