Benazir Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto (Sindhi: بينظير ڀٽو; Urdu: بینظیر بھٹو, pronounced [beːnəˈziːr ˈbʱʊʈʈoː]; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistan-born politician, with Pakistani and Kurdish-Iranian origin, who chaired the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), a centre-left and the largest political party in Pakistan. Bhutto was the first woman elected to lead a Muslim state,[1] having twice been Prime Minister of Pakistan (1988–1990; 1993–1996). She was Pakistan's first and to date only female prime minister and was the eldest child of former Prime minister of Pakistan Mr. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and former First Lady of Pakistan Mrs.Nusrat Bhutto, and was the wife of current President of Pakistan Mr. Asif Ali Zardari.
Bhutto was sworn in as Prime Minister for the first time in 1988 at the age of 35, but was removed from office 20 months later under the order of then-President Ghulam Ishaq Khan on grounds of alleged corruption. In 1993 she was re-elected but was again removed in 1996 on similar charges, this time by her party's elected President Farooq Leghari. She went into self-imposed exile in Dubai in 1998.

Bhutto returned to Pakistan on October 18th 2007, after reaching an understanding with President Pervez Musharraf by which she was granted amnesty and all corruption charges were withdrawn. She was assassinated on 27 December 2007, after departing a PPP rally in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, two weeks before the scheduled Pakistani general election of 2008 in which she was a leading opposition candidate. The following year, she was named one of seven winners of the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights.

Education and Personal Life:

Benazir Bhutto was born at Pinto Hospital in Karachi, Dominion of Pakistan on 21 June 1953. She was the eldest child of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a Pakistani Shia Muslim of Sindhi Rajput descent, and Begum Nusrat Ispahani, a Shia Muslim Pakistani of Kurdish-Iranian descent. Her paternal grandfather was Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto.
Bhutto was raised to speak both English and Urdu; English was her first language and while her Urdu was fluent it was often also ungrammatical. Despite her family being Sindhi speakers, her Sindhi skills were almost non-existent.
She attended the Lady Jennings Nursery School and 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 with cum laude honors in comparative government. She was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Bhutto would later call her time at Harvard "four of the happiest years of my life" and said it formed "the very basis of her belief in democracy". Later in 1995 as Prime Minister, she would arrange a gift from the Pakistani government to Harvard Law School. On June 2006, she received an Honorary LL.D degree from the University of Toronto.

The next phase of her education took place in the United Kingdom. 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. After LMH she attend St Catherine's College, Oxford and in December 1976 she was elected president of the Oxford Union, becoming the first Asian woman to head the prestigious debating society.
On 18 December 1987, she married Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi. The couple had three children: two daughters, Bakhtawar and Asifa, and a son, Bilawal. When she gave birth to Bakhtawar in 1990, she became the first modern head of government to give birth while in office.

Family: Benazir Bhutto's father, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was removed from office following a military coup in 1977 led by the then chief of army General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who imposed martial law but promised to hold elections within three months. Nevertheless, instead of fulfilling the promise of holding general elections, General Zia charged Mr. Bhutto with conspiring to murder the father of dissident politician Ahmed Raza Kasuri. Mr. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was sentenced to death by the martial law court.
Despite the accusation being "widely doubted by the public", and many clemency appeals from foreign leaders, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged on 4 April 1979. Appeals for clemency were dismissed by acting President General Zia. Benazir Bhutto and her mother were held in a "police camp" until the end of May, after the execution.

Struggle against martial law of General Zia-ul-Haq:

After the overthrow of her father Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's government in a bloodless coup Benazir Bhutto spent the next eighteen months in and out of house arrest as she struggled to rally political support to force Zia to drop murder charges against her father. The military dictator ignored worldwide appeals for clemency and had Zulfikar Bhutto hanged in April 1979. Following the hanging of her father Bhutto was arrested repeatedly, however, following PPP's victory in the local elections Zia postponed the national elections indefinitely and moved Bhutto and her mother Nusrat Bhutto from Karachi to Larkana. This was the seventh time Benazir had been arrested within two years of the military coup. Repeatedly put under house arrest, the regime finally imprisoned her under solitary confinement in a desert cell in Sindhi province during the summer of 1981. She described the conditions in her wall-less cage in her book "Daughter of Destiny":
"The summer heat turned my cell into an oven. My skin split and peeled, coming off my hands in sheets. Boils erupted on my face. My hair, which had always been thick, began to come out by the handful. Insects crept into the cell like invading armies. Grasshoppers, mosquitoes, stinging flies, bees and bugs came up through the cracks in the floor and through the open bars from the courtyard. Big black ants, cockroaches, seething clumps of little red ants and spiders. I tried pulling the sheet over my head at night to hide from their bites, pushing it back when it got too hot to breathe."
After her six month imprisonment in Sukkur jail, she remained hospitalized for months after which she was shifted to Karachi Central Jail, where she remained imprisoned until December 11, 1981. She was then placed under house arrests in Larkana and Karachi eleven and fourteen months respectively.

Assassination:

On 27 December 2007, Bhutto was killed while leaving a campaign rally for the PPP at Liaquat National Bagh, where she had given a spirited address to party supporters in the run-up to the January 2008 parliamentary elections. After entering her bulletproof vehicle, Bhutto stood up through its sunroof to wave to the crowds. At this point, a gunman fired shots at her and subsequently explosives were detonated near the vehicle killing approximately 20 people. Bhutto was critically wounded and was rushed to Rawalpindi General Hospital. She was

taken into surgery at 17:35 local time, and pronounced dead at 18:16.
Bhutto's body was flown to her hometown of Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in Larkana District, Sindh, and was buried next to her father in the family mausoleum at a ceremony attended by hundreds of thousands of mourners.
There was some disagreement about the exact cause of death. Bhutto's husband refused to permit an autopsy or post-mortem examination to be carried out.  On 28 December 2007, the Interior Ministry of Pakistan stated that "Bhutto was killed when she tried to duck back into the vehicle, and the shock waves from the blast knocked her head into a lever attached to the sunroof, fracturing her skull".However, a hospital spokesman stated earlier that she had suffered shrapnel wounds to the head and that this was the cause of her death. Bhutto's aides have also disputed the Interior Ministry's account. On December 31, CNN posted the alleged emergency room admission report as a PDF file. The document appears to have been signed by all the admitting physicians and notes that no object was found inside the wound.

Al-Qaeda commander Mustafa Abu al-Yazid claimed responsibility for the attack, describing Bhutto as "the most precious American asset."  The Pakistani government also stated that it had proof that al-Qaeda was behind the assassination. A report for CNN stated: "the Interior Ministry also earlier told Pakistan's Geo TV that the suicide bomber belonged to Lashkar i Jhangvi—an al-Qaeda-linked militant group that the government has blamed for hundreds of killings".The government of Pakistan claimed Baitullah Mehsud was the mastermind behind the assassination. Lashkar i Jhangvi, a Wahabi Muslim extremist organization affiliated with al-Qaeda that also attempted in 1999 to assassinate former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, is alleged to have been responsible for the killing of the 54-year-old Bhutto along with approximately 20 bystanders, however this is vigorously disputed by the Bhutto family, by the PPP that Bhutto had headed and by Baitullah Mehsud. On 3 January 2008, President Musharraf officially denied participating in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto as well as failing to provide her proper security. On February 12, 2011, an Anti-Terrorism Court in Rawalpindi issued an arrest warrant for Musharraf, claiming he was aware of an impending assassination attempt by the Taliban, but did not pass the information on to those responsible for protecting Bhutto. 

Reaction in Pakistan:

After the assassination, there were initially a number of riots resulting in approximately 20 deaths, of which three were of police officers. Around 250 cars were burnt; angry and upset supporters of Bhutto threw rocks outside the hospital where she was being held. Through December 29, 2007, the Pakistani government said rioters had wrecked nine election offices, 176 banks, 34 gas stations, 72 train cars, 18 rail stations, and hundreds of cars and shops. President Musharraf decreed a three-day period of mourning.
On 30 December 2007, at a news conference following a meeting of the PPP leadership, Bhutto's widower Asif Ali Zardari and son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari announced that 19-year-old Bilawal will succeed his mother as titular head of the party, with his father effectively running the party until his son completes his studies at Christ Church, Oxford. "When I return, I promise to lead the party as my mother wanted me to," Bilawal said. The PPP called for parliamentary elections to take place as scheduled on 8 January 2008, and Asif Ali Zardari said that vice-chair Makhdoom Amin Fahim would probably be the party's candidate for prime minister. (Bilawal is not of legal age to stand for parliament.)
On December 30, Bhutto's political party, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), called for the UK Government and the United Nations to help conduct the investigation of her death. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has been appointed chairman of his late mother's opposition political party in Pakistan. Bilawal is only 19 years old. On 5 February 2008, the PPP released Mrs. Bhutto's political will, which she wrote two weeks before returning to Pakistan and only 12 weeks before she was killed, stating that her husband Asif Ali Zardari would be the leader of the party, until a new leader is elected.

International reaction:

The international reaction to Bhutto's assassination was of strong condemnation across the international community. The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting and unanimously condemned the assassination. Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa stated that, "We condemn this assassination and terrorist act, and pray for God Almighty to bless her soul." India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was "deeply shocked and horrified to hear of the heinous assassination of Mrs. Benazir Bhutto. ... My heartfelt condolences go to her family and the people of Pakistan who have suffered a grievous blow."  British Prime Minister Gordon Brown stated, "Benazir Bhutto may have been killed by terrorists but the terrorists must not be allowed to kill democracy in Pakistan and this atrocity strengthens our resolve that terrorists will not win there, here or anywhere in the world." European Commission President José Manuel Barroso condemned the assassination as "an attack against democracy and against Pakistan," and "hopes that Pakistan will remain firmly on track for return to democratic civilian rule." US President George W. Bush condemned the assassination as a "cowardly act by murderous extremists," and encouraged Pakistan to "honor Benazir Bhutto's memory by continuing with the democratic process for which she so bravely gave her life." Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone expressed the sadness of Pope Benedict XVI, saying that "the Holy Father expresses sentiments of deep sympathy and spiritual closeness to the members of her family and to the entire Pakistani nation." Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Qin Gang said that China was "shocked at the killing of Pakistan's opposition leader Benazir Bhutto" and "strongly condemns the terrorist attack."

Scotland Yard investigation:British detectives were asked by the Pakistani government to investigate the assassination. Although expressing reservations as to the difficulty in investigating due to the crime scene having been hosed down and Asif Zardari's refusing permission for a post mortem, the Pakistani government announced on 8 February 2008 that Benazir Bhutto had been killed on impact by the knob of the sun roof following the bomb explosion.

UN inquiry:A formal investigation by the UN commenced on July 1, 2009.

Benazir Bhutto's books:•    Benazir Bhutto, (1983), Pakistan: The gathering storm, Vikas Pub.   
     House, ISBN 0-7069-2495-9
•    Benazir Bhutto (1989). Daughter of the East. Hamish Hamilton.

     ISBN 0-241-12398-4.

Daughter of the East was also released as:
•    Benazir Bhutto (1989). Daughter of Destiny: An Autobiography.
      Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-66983-4.

At the time of Bhutto's death, the manuscript for her third book, to be called Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West, had been received by HarperCollins. The book, written with Mark Siegel, was published in February 2008.

•    Benazir Bhutto (2008). Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West. HarperCollins.
     ISBN 978-0-06-156758-2

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Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (Urdu: ذوالفقار علی بھٹو, Sindhi: ذوالفقار علي ڀُٽو, IPA: [zʊlfɪqɑːɾ ɑli bʱʊʈːoː]) (5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 9th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1973 to 1977 and as the 4th President of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973. Bhutto was the founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)— the largest and most influential political party in Pakistan— and served its first founding chairman until his death.His eldest daughter, Benazir Bhutto, would also served Prime minister, while his son Murtaza Bhutto, served as member of Parliament of Pakistan.

Early Education:

Educated at the University of California, Berkeley in the United States and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, Bhutto was noted for his progressive economic initiatives, industrialization, education, energy and foreign policy, and his intellectualism.In addition to national security issues, Bhutto promoted his policies on the nationalization, health care, and social reforms.Under his premiership, Pakistan's Parliament gave approval and passed unanimously the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan, a supreme law that provides a parliamentary system to Pakistan, strengthened the Sino-Pak and Saudi-Pak relations, recognition of East-Pakistan as Bangladesh, and hosted the second Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in 1974 where he delegated and invited leaders from the Muslim world to Lahore, Punjab Province of Pakistan.In July of 1972, Bhutto successfully proceeded the Shimla treaty, signed with Indira Gandhi of India, and brought back 93,000 P.O.Ws to Pakistan and secured 5,000 sq mi held by India.In January 20th of 1972, weeks after Indo-Pak 1971 winter war, Bhutto orchestrated, authorized, and administrated the scientific research on nuclear weapons; for this, he is colloquially known in the world as "Father of the Pakistan's nuclear deterrence programme".

A serious successionist and rebellious conflict occurred in Balochistan province in 1973, calling for independence from Pakistan.In response, Bhutto ordered Pakistan Armed Forces an armed action, which was quelled by the Pakistan Armed Forces successfully in 1978.[6] Bhutto and his party won the general parliamentary elections held in 1977, however, in a successfully attempted coup d'état led by General Zia-ul-Haq under a codename Operation Fair Play; Bhutto was removed from the office and was shifted in Central Jail Rawalpindi (CJR) as General Zia-ul-Haq proclaimed himself as Chief Martial Law Administrator of Pakistan. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was executed in 1979 after the Supreme Court of Pakistan sentenced him to death for authorizing the murder of a political opponent, in a move that many believe was done under the directives of Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Army General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.

Early Life:

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was born to Khursheed Begum née Lakhi Bai and Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto. Bhutto was the illegitimate child of Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto.  He was born in a prominent Sindhi Rajput family. Bhutto's father was a prominent political figure in the Indian colonial government. Bhutto 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 the prime minster of junagadh state, 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 social League's Pakistan Movement. In 1943, his marriage was arranged with Shireen Amir Begum (died 19 January 2003 in Karachi). He later left her, however, in order to remarry. In 1947, Bhutto was admitted to the University of Southern California to study political science.

In 1949, as college sophomore, Bhutto transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned an B.Sc. (honours) degree in Political science in 1950. Here, Bhutto would become interested in the theories of socialism, delivering a series of lectures on the feasibility of socialism in Islamic countries. 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 June 1950, Bhutto traveled to United Kingdom to study law at Christ Church— a constituent college of the University of Oxford— and received LLB, followed by another advanced LLM degree in Law and M.Sc. (honours) degree in Political science. Upon finishing his studies, he was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in the year 1953 (the same school at which Muhammad Ali Jinnah studied law) .

Bhutto married his second wife, the Iranian-Kurdish Begum Nusrat Ispahani who was a Shi'a Muslim, in Karachi on 8 September 1951. Their first child, his 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. He accepted the post of lecturer at the Sindh Muslim College, from where he was also awarded an honorary doctorate, —honoris causa— in law by the then college President, Hassanally Rahmann 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.

Foreign Prime Minister:

In 1962, he was appointed Pakistan's Foreign minister and headed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with an aggressive leadership. His style of leading the Foreign ministry swift to rise to power also brought him national prominence and popularity.
As Foreign minister, Bhutto significantly transformed Pakistan's hitherto 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 U.S. influence. Bhutto criticised the U.S. 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 U.S. Bhutto worked to establish stronger relations with the People's Republic of China. Bhutto 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 2 March 1963 that transferred 750 square kilometres of territory from Pakistan-administered Kashmir to Chinese control. Bhutto asserted his belief in non-alignment, making Pakistan an influential member in non-aligned organisations. 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 17 day war broke out between Pakistan and India on 6 September 1965 known as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. This war was an aftermath of brief skirmishes that took place between March and August 1965 on the international boundaries in the Rann of Kutch, Kashmir and Punjab. 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 rumours, Bhutto resigned in June 1966 and expressed strong opposition to Ayub's regime.

Father of the Nuclear weapons program:

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was the founder of Pakistan's nuclear weapons research programme, and due to his administrative and aggressive leadership to lead this nuclear deterrence programme, Bhutto is often known as Father of Nuclear deterrence programme. In October 1965, as Foreign Minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto visited Vienna when Munir Ahmad Khan informed him of the status of Indian nuclear programme and the options Pakistan had to develop its own nuclear capability. Both agreed on the need for Pakistan to develop a nuclear deterrent to meet India's nuclear capacity. While, Munir Ahmad Khan had failed to convince Ayub Khan, Bhutto had said to Munir Ahmad Khan:

Don't worry, our turn will come.

After India's nuclear test — codename Pokhran-I — on May 1974. Bhutto sensed a great danger for Pakistan. In a press conference held on May 1974, shortly after India's nuclear test. Bhutto said "even if we have to eat grass, we will make nuclear bombs". On the 20 January 1972, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto rallied a conference of nuclear scientists and engineers at Multan. While at the Multan meeting, arranged by Bhutto's Science Advisor Abdus Salam, scientists were wondering why the President who had so much on his hands in those trying days was paying so much attention to the scientists and engineers in the nuclear field. Bhutto said:

"Look, we're going to have the  bomb." He asked them: "Can you give it to me? And how long will it take it to make a bomb."  The academic scientists replied: "Oh, yes, yes, You can have it." There was a lively debate on the time needed to make the bomb, and finally one scientist dared to say that maybe it could be done in five years. Prime Minister Bhutto smiled, lifted his hand, and dramatically thrust forward three fingers and said: "Three years, I want it in three years". ". The atmosphere suddenly became electric. It was then that one of the junior scientist-dr. S.A.Butt (a theoretical physicist), who under Munir Ahmad Khan's guiding hand would come to play a major role in making the fission weapon possible — jumped to his feet and clamoured for his leader's attention. Dr. S.A Butt replied: : "It can be done in three years". was very much amused and he said: "Well, much as I appreciate your enthusiasm, this is a very serious political decision, which Pakistan must make, and perhaps all Third World countries must make one day, because it is coming. So can you do it?"  And the scientist replied , "Yes, we can do it, given the resources and given the facilities". Bhutto's Answer was simple "I shall find you the resources and I shall find you the facilities". Despite Pakistan limited financial resources, Bhutto was so enthusiastic about Pakistan nuclear bomb, that he is reported to have said"Pakistanis will eat grass but make a nuclear bomb."

Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission's militarisation was initiated in January 20 of 1972 and, in its initial years, was implemented by Pakistan Army's Chief of Army Staff General Tikka Khan. The Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP-I) was inaugurated by Bhutto during his role as President of Pakistan at the end of 1972. Long before, as Minister for Fuel, Power, and National Resources, he has played a key role in setting up of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission. The nuclear weapons programme was set up loosely based on Manhattan Project of 1940s under the administrative control of Bhutto. And, senior academic scientists had a direct access to Bhutto, who kept him informed about every inch of the development. Bhutto's Science Advisor, Abdus Salam's office was also sat up in Bhutto's Prime minister Secretariat. On Bhutto's request, Salam had established and led the Theoretical Physics Group (TPG) that marked the beginning of the nuclear detterence programme. The TPG designed and developed the nuclear weapons as well as the entire programme. Later, Munir Ahmad Khan had him personally approved the budget for the development of the programme.

Wanting a capable administrator, Bhutto sought Lieutenant-General Rahimuddin Khan to chair the commission, which Rahimuddin declined, in 1971. Instead, in January 1972, Bhutto chose a U.S. trained nuclear engineer Munir Ahmad Khan as chairman of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) as Bhutto realized that he would wanted an administrator who understood the scientific and economical needs of this such technologically giant and ambitious programme. Since 1965, Munir Ahmad Khan had developed extremely close and trusted relationship with Bhutto, and even after his death, Benazir and Murtaza Bhutto were instructed and told by their father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, to keep in touch with Munir Ahmed Khan. Now as chairman of PAEC, Munir Ahmad Khan, under Bhutto's and Salam's guidance, ran the PAEC's weapons laboratories very efficiently. In spring of 1976, Kahuta Research Facility, then known as Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL), as part of codename Project-706, was also established by Bhutto, and brought under nuclear scientist Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan and the Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers' Lieutenant-General Zahid Ali Akbar. As Bhutto was the main architect of Project-706, Lieutenant-General Zahid Ali Akbar Khan kept informed Bhutto about the progressed was made by dr. A.Q. Khan.

Death Sentence and Appeal:

On 18 March 1978, Bhutto wasn't declared guilty of murder but was 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 defence before the Supreme Court. On 18 December 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 23 December 1978. On 6 February 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 24 February 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 24 March 1979 the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. Zia upheld the death sentence. Bhutto was hanged at Central jail, Rawalpindi, on 4 April 1979, and is buried in Village Cemetery at Garhi Khuda Baksh.

Re Opening Bhutto Trial:

The Government of Pakistan has filed a reference on 2nd April, 2011, to reopen Bhutto's trial. The move was initiated by the Federal Cabinet and backed by the Provincial Government of Punjab led by Chief minister Shahbaz Sharif . President Asif Ali Zardari consented to this presidential reference Article 186 of the Constitution to Supreme Court of Pakistan. The Supreme Court will take up the reference on 13th April 2011. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry is presiding the three-judge-bench, though it may be expanded with law experts from four provinces of Pakistan, and Babar Awan, Federal minister for Law, is counseling Bhutto's case. Babar Awan has resigned from his ministry post in order to legally counsel the ZAB's case, while Chief Justice Chaudhry praised and appreciated the move by the senior PPP leader and remarked the gesture as "historic".In a crucial advancement, Supreme Court of Pakistan has ordered to form Larger Bench to hear the case which would be responsible to decided the status of Bhutto's execution.

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Chaudhary Rahmat Ali

Chaudhary Rahmat Ali (Urdu/Punjabi: چودھری رحمت علی) (or Rehmat Ali Khan; Urdu/Punjabi: رحمت علی خان) (November 16, 1897 – February 3, 1951) was an Indian Muslim nationalist who was one of the earliest proponents of the creation of the state of Pakistan. He is credited with creating the name “Pakistan” for a separate Muslim homeland on the Indian subcontinent.
Education and career:
Rehmat Ali was born in the town of Balachaur in Hoshiarpur District of Punjab (now Nawanshahr District). After graduating from Islamia Madrassa Lahore in 1918, he taught at Aitchison College Lahore before continuing Law studies at Punjab University. In 1930 he moved to England to join Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1931. In 1933, he published a pamphlet, Now or Never, coining the word Pakistan for the first time. Subsequently, he obtained a BA degree in 1933 and MA in 1940 from University of Cambridge. In 1943, he was called to the Bar, Middle Temple Inn, London. Until 1947, he continued publishing various booklets about his vision of the subcontinent. The partition process disillusioned him due to the mass killings and mass migrations. He was also dissatisfied with the distribution of areas among the two countries and considered it a major reason for disturbances. He died on 3 February 1951 and was buried on 20 February at Newmarket Road Cemetery, Cambridge, UK.
Conception of ‘Pakistan’ There are several accounts to the conceptualising of the name. According to a friend (Abdul Kareem Jabbar) the name came up when Rehmat Ali was walking along the banks of the Thames in 1932 with his friends Pir Ahsan-ud-Din and Khawja Abdul Rahim. According to Rehmat Ali’s secretary Miss Frost, he came up with the idea of the name ‘Pakistan’ while riding on the top of a London bus. In the early 1930s, Ali began writing about the formation of a Muslim nation in India. On January 28, 1933, he voiced his ideas in the pamphlet entitled “Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever?”. The word ‘Pakstan’ referred to “the five Northern units of India, Viz: Punjab, (Afghanistan Province), Kashmir, Sind and Baluchistan “” . By the end of 1933, ‘Pakistan’ become common vocabulary where an i was added to ease pronunciation (as in Afghan-i-stan). In a subsequent book Rehmat Ali discussed the etymology in further detail. ‘Pakistan’ is both a Persian and an Urdu word. 

It is composed of letters taken from the names of all our Indian Sub-continent homelands; that is, Panjab, Afghanistan (Pashtunistan), Kashmir, Sindh (including Kach and Kathiawar), Tukharistan, Afghanistan, and Balochistan. It means the land of the Paks- the spiritually pure and clean. It symbolizes the religious beliefs and ethnical stocks of our people; and it stands for all the territorial constituents of our original Fatherland. It has no other origin and no other meaning; and it does not admit of any other interpretation. Those writers who have tried to interpret it in more than way have done so either through the love of casuistry, or through ignorance of its inspiration, origin and composition.

Philosophy Like Allama Iqbal, Ali believed that the Muslims of India had to undergo a reformation politically in order to remain a viable, and independent community there. Ali noted that Hazrat Muhammad had succeeded in uniting fractured Arab tribes and that this example was to again be used by Muslims of India to pool together in order to survive in what he perceived to be an increasingly hostile India. As such, Chaudhary Rahmat Ali’s writings, in addition to those of Iqbal and others were major catalysts for the formation of Pakistan. He offered “Bang-i-Islam” for a Muslim homeland in the Bengal, and “Usmanistan” for a Muslim homeland in the Deccan.

He also suggested “Dinia” as a name for a subcontinent for various religions. Ali dedicated a lot of time and energy to the idea of Pakistan, and after its formation in 1947, he argued on its behalf at the United Nations over the issue of Kashmir.
Post-independence While Chaudhary Rahmat Ali was a leading figure for the conception of Pakistan, he lived most of his adult life in England. The Cambridge-based pamphleteer had been voicing his dissatisfaction with the creation of Pakistan ever since his arrival in Lahore on April 6 1948. He was unhappy over a Smaller Pakistan than the one he had conceived in his 1933 pamphlet Now Or Never.Consequently, Rahmat Ali died in 1951, buried in Cambridge City graveyard.

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General Muhammad Zia-Ul-Haq

Zia-Ul-Haq

General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq was the one who enforced Martial Law for the third time in the brief history of Pakistan. Second child and eldest son of Muhammad Akram, a teacher in the British Army, Zia-ul-Haq was born on August 12, 1924, at Jalandhar.

After receiving his early education from Government High School Simla, he did his B. A. Honors from St. Stephen College, Delhi. He was commissioned in the British Army in 1943 and served in Burma, Malaya and Indonesia during World War II. When the war was over, he decided to join the armored corps. At the time of Independence, like most of the Muslim officers in the British Army, Zia-ul-Haq opted to join the Pakistan Army. As a Major he got an opportunity to do a training course in the Commander and Staff College of United States of America in 1963-64. During the 1965 War, he acted as the Assistant Quarter Master of 101 Infantry Division, which was posted at the Kiran Sector. He remained posted in Jordan from 1967 till 1970, where he was involved in training Jordon's military. He was appointed as Corps Commander of Multan in 1975.

On April 1, 1976, in a surprise move the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, appointed Zia-ul-Haq as Chief of Army Staff, superseding five senior Generals. Bhutto probably wanted somebody as the head of the armed forces who would not prove to be a threat for him, and the best available option was the simple General who was apparently interested only in offering prayers and playing golf. However, history proved that General Zia-ul-Haq proved to be much smarter than Bhutto thought. When political tension reached its climax due to the deadlock between Bhutto and the leadership of Pakistan National Alliance on the issue of general elections, Zia-ul-Haq took advantage of the situation. On July 5, 1977, he carried out a bloodless coup overthrowing Bhutto's government and enforced Martial Law in the country. 

After assuming power as Chief Martial Law Administrator, Zia-ul-Haq promised to hold National and Provincial Assembly elections in the next 90 days and to hand over power to the representatives of the Nation. However, in October 1977, he announced the postponement of the electoral plan and decided to start an accountability process of the politicians. In a statement, he said that he changed his decision due to the strong public demand for the scrutiny of political leaders who had indulged in malpractice in the past. The Disqualification Tribunal was formulated and many former Members of Parliament were disqualified from participating in politics at any level for the next seven years. A white paper was also issued which criticized the activities of Pakistan People Party's government under Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
With the retirement of Fazal Ilahi, Zia-ul-Haq also assumed the office of President of Pakistan on September 16, 1978. In the absence of a Parliament, Zia-ul-Haq decided to set up an alternative system. He introduced Majlis-i-Shoora in 1980. Most of the members of the Shoora were intellectuals, scholars, ulema, journalists, economists and professionals belonging to different fields of life. The Shoora was to act as a board of advisors to the President. The idea of establishing this institution was not bad but the main problem was that all 284 members of the Shoora were to be nominated by the President and thus there was no room for dissention.

In the mid 80s, Zia-ul-Haq decided to fulfill his promise of holding elections in the country. But before handing over the power to the public representatives, he decided to secure his position. Referendum was held in the county in December 1984, and the masses were given the option to elect or reject the General as the future President of Pakistan. The question asked in the referendum was phrased in a way that Zia-ul-Haq's victory was related to the process of Islamization in the country. According to the official result, more than 95 percent of the votes were cast in favor of Zia-ul-Haq, thus he was elected as President for the next five years.

After being elected President, Zia-ul-Haq decided to hold elections in the country in February 1985 on a non-party basis. Most of the political parties decided to boycott the elections but election results showed that many victors belonged to one party or the other. To make things easier for himself, the General nominated the Prime Minister from amongst the Members of the Assembly. To many, his nomination of Muhammad Khan Junejo as the Prime Minister was because he wanted a simple person at the post who would act as a puppet in his hands. Before handing over the power to the new Government he made certain Amendments in the Constitution and got them endorsed from the Parliament before lifting the state of emergency in the county. Due to this Eighth Amendment in the Constitution, the powers of the President were increased to an absolute level on the plea of safeguarding national integrity.


As time passed, the Parliamentarians wanted to have more freedom and power. By the beginning of 1988, rumors about the differences between the Prime Minister and Zia-ul-Haq were rife. The general feeling was that the President, who had enjoyed absolute power for eight long years, was not ready to share it with anybody else. On May 29, 1988, Zia-ul-Haq finally dissolved the National Assembly and removed the Prime Minister under article 58(2) b of the amended Constitution. Apart from many other reasons, Junejo's decision to sign the Geneva Accord against the wishes of Zia-ul-Haq proved to be one of the major factors responsible for his removal.

After 11 years, Zia-ul-Haq once again made the same promise to the Nation to hold fresh elections within next 90 days. With Benazir Bhutto back in the country and the Muslim League leadership annoyed with the President over the decision of May 29, Zia-ul-Haq was trapped in the most difficult situation of his political life. The only option left for him was to repeat history and to postpone the elections once again.

However, before taking any decision, Zia-ul-Haq died in an air crash near Bhawalpur on August 17, 1988. The accident proved to be very costly for the country as almost the entire military elite of Pakistan was onboard. Though United States' Ambassador to Pakistan was also killed in the misfortune, yet many do not rule out U. S. involvement in the sabotage. They believe that United States could not afford Pakistan to oppose Geneva Accord and thus they removed the biggest hurdle in their way. The remains of Zia-ul-Haq were buried in the premises of Faisal Mosque, Islamabad. His death brought a large number of mourners to attend his funeral, including a large number of Afghanis, which proved to be one of the biggest in the history of the country.
During his rule, Zia-ul-Haq tried his utmost to maintain close ties with the Muslim World. He made vigorous efforts along with other Muslim States to bring an end to the war between Iran and Iraq. Pakistan joined the Non-Aligned Movement in 1979 during Zia-ul-Haq's term. He also fought a war by proxy in Afghanistan and saved Pakistan from a direct war with Soviet Union.

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A. K. Fazl-ul-Haq

Popularly known as Sher-i-Bengal, A. K. Fazl-ul-Haq was a leader who, for more than half a century, was in the forefront of all political activities pertaining to the Pakistan Movement. He made valuable contributions towards the political, social and educational uplift of the Muslims of the Sub-continent.
He was born on October 26, 1873, and received his elementary and religious education at home. He learnt the Holy Quran, Arabic and Persian from well-known scholars. Fazl-ul-Haq excelled in his studies. He passed his BA securing honors in physics, chemistry and mathematics, and his MA with distinction from the University of Calcutta.
In 1900, he was enrolled as an advocate in the Calcutta High Court. While practicing law in his hometown, Barisal, he realized that the main cause of the backwardness of Muslims of Bengal was lack of education. Educational uplift and political advancement of the Muslims became the goal of his life.
He slowly began to emerge as a young political leader. Fazl-ul-Haq was one of the four members of the committee that drafted the constitution of the All India Muslim League in 1906. In 1912, he started the Central National Muhammadan Educational Association to help the poor and deserving Muslims. In 1914, he became the leader of the Muslims of Bengal. He attended the Lucknow Pact as the representative of the province. In 1920, he became the Minister of Education for Bengal. He devotedly worked for the educational advancement of the Muslims. During the Non-cooperation Movement of 1919-1921, he very wisely advised the Muslim students to single-mindedly pursue their studies and not to get involved in politics at that stage.
Fazl-ul-Haq was essentially a man of the masses. As a lawyer he defended thousands of Muslims who were accused of the riot cases before the Partition. He also looked after the interests of the peasantry of Bengal. He was also a delegate of the Round Table Conferences and pleaded the cause of the Muslims to have their proper share in the administrative affairs of the country. In 1937, he was elected as Chief Minister of Bengal. During the All India Muslim League session of March 23, 1940, which was presided over by Quaid-i-Azam, Fazl-ul-Haq rose to move the historic Pakistan Resolution and spoke of protecting the rights of the Muslims of India.
Fazl-ul-Haq migrated to Pakistan and accepted the Advocate Generalship of East Pakistan. At the age of 80, he toured East Pakistan from one end to another. In 1962, his health started deteriorating. He passed away on April 27, 1962 after dominating the political stage of the Sub-continent for half a century.

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Begum Shaista Ikramullah

Begum Shaista Ikramullah, the first female representative of the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan (1947), Pakistan's former Ambassador to Morocco, mother-in-law of Jordan's Crown Prince, and niece of the great leader Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, was born on July 22, 1915, at Calcutta in the prominent Suhrawardy family of West Bengal. She was educated at Calcutta and London. During that period, strict purdah environment was prevalent in the Muslim society of India. Her mother was a traditionalist while her father, an eminent surgeon and politician, was a dynamic liberal who encouraged his daughter to study.
She got married at quite a young age. Her husband was a diplomat and served as Pakistan's first Foreign Secretary. He encouraged her pursuit of modern education. She was the first Muslim woman to obtain a doctorate from the University of London in 1940. Her doctorate thesis "Development of the Urdu Novel and Short Story" was a critical survey of Urdu novel and short stories.
In 1945, Begum Ikramullah was asked by the Government of India to attend the Pacific Relations Conference. Quaid-i-Azam convinced Begum Ikramullah not to accept the offer, as he wanted her to go as the representative of the Muslim League and to speak on its behalf. Six weeks after the establishment of Pakistan, the Quaid asked Begum Ikramullah to go as a delegate to the United Nations.

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Begum Tasadduque Hussain

Real name Salma Mahmuda, daughter of Mian Fazal Ilahi Bedil, was born in August 1908 at Gujranwala. Brought up and educated in a scholarly atmosphere, Begum Tasadduque began to understand the value of art and literature early in life. In 1922, she was married to Dr. Tasadduque Hussain, Bar-at-Law. She continued her studies even after her marriage and completed her graduation from the University of Punjab. With the formation of the Punjab Provincial Women's Subcommittee, she became its most active member and in 1940 she was elected as one of its Secretaries. She helped in opening up primary schools and industrial homes for girls at Lahore.
In 1941, she was nominated to the Council of the All India Muslim League. In April 1943, she was taken on by the Central Subcommittee of the All India Muslim League. She played a leading part in the Bengal Relief Fund Committee. In 1944, she was nominated as a member of the working committee of the Punjab Provincial Muslim League.
She rendered valuable services during the elections of 1946. She successfully contested on the Muslim League ticket for the Punjab Provincial Assembly seat from the inner Lahore constituency, winning by an overwhelming majority. The same year she was again taken on by the working committee of the Punjab Provincial Muslim League.
She worked very hard during the Bihar riots, helping the Bihar refugees in their camps, and staying for nearly two months in the affected areas. She brought refugees from Bihar and provided accommodation to many of them at her residence.
In 1947, as Secretary of the Women's Subcommittee, she was heavily occupied with the organization and management of women's possessions. She participated in some processions and was eventually arrested along with other Muslim League members of the Punjab Assembly. Her activities did not remain confined to Punjab; she also took personal interest in the affairs of other provinces. When the Civil Disobedience Movement spread to the N. W. F. P., she went there with her colleagues and assisted in the organization of processions.
During the Partition riots, she was appointed Refugee Relief Secretary in the provincial Muslim League office and her duties were to receive the refugees from other areas and make arrangements for their boarding and lodging in Walton and other camps.
In the field of literature, she has attained a remarkable position as a writer and poet. Her poems and short stories have appeared in the leading Urdu journals. The translation of 'Cleopatra' into Urdu is one of her achievements.
She died on August 7, 1995.

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Lady Abdullah Haroon

Real name Nusrat Khanum, Lady Abdullah Haroon was born in 1886, in Iran. Her parents migrated to India and later settled in Karachi where in 1914 she married Sir Abdullah Haroon. She took keen interest in female education and started a school at her home. She also founded a female organization known as Anjuman-i-Khawateen to improve the social and economic condition of the women of Sindh.
In 1919, she entered the political arena and worked as an ardent supporter of the Khilafat Movement in her province.
In 1938, she was nominated to the Women's Central Subcommittee of the All India Muslim League and was also elected President of the Sindh Provincial Women's Subcommittee. Actually, this organization owes its existence to Lady Haroon, who through her untiring efforts was able to bring the Muslim women under the banner of the Muslim League. She also made commendable contributions during the 1946 elections for the Muslim League.
Lady Haroon was a successful housewife. Her husband once stated that Nusrat had completed his life and that he was the happiest, luckiest and most content man on earth.

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Begum Viqar-un-Nisa

Begum Viqar-un-Nisa Noon, an Austrian by birth, was married to Sir Feroz Khan Noon in 1945. She and her husband left Delhi for Lahore the same year after Sir Noon resigned from the Viceroy's cabinet. Because of her husband's leading role in Indian politics, Begum Noon had the opportunity of studying the prevailing political situation and public opinion very closely. She organized election campaigns and became a member of the Punjab Provincial Women's Subcommittee. She organized a band of girl students and other women volunteers and toured other districts of the province for promotion of the cause of the Muslim League.
During the Civil Disobedience Movement in Punjab, Begum Noon was one of the leading women leaders responsible for successfully organizing the processions and demonstrations against the Khizar Ministry backed by the British, and courted arrest on three occasions.
During the period of mass transfer of population after the Partition, she rendered invaluable assistance to various refugee committees and camps. She had been closely associated with Red Cross and represented Pakistan on various occasions. She also opened a school and a college for girls at Rawalpindi.
After a protracted illness, she passed away on January 16, 2000, in Islamabad.

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Begum Shah Nawaz

Begum Jehan Ara Shah Nawaz was the daughter of the famous Muslim League leader, Sir Muhammad Shafi. Born in April 1896, she was educated at the Queen Mary College, Lahore. She was married to Mian Shah Nawaz.
With the emergence of the All India Muslim Women's Conference, Begum Shah Nawaz devoted all her efforts towards its cause. She was successful in moving the organization to pass a resolution against polygamy in its session held at Lahore in 1918. She was also associated with the education and orphanage committees of the Anjuman Himayat-i-Islam, Lahore. She was an active member of the All India Muslim Women's Conference and remained president of its provincial branch for seven years. She was vice-president of the Central Committee of the All India Muslim Women's Conference.
Besides being a member of the Lahore Municipal Committee, she was also associated with several hospitals, and maternity and child welfare committees. She was the first woman to be elected as vice-president of the Provincial Executive and was a member of the All Indian General Committee of the Red Cross Society. She was a woman delegate to the Round Table Conference. In 1935, she founded the Punjab Provincial Women's Muslim League. In 1937, she was elected as a member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly and was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Education, Medical Relief and Public Health. In 1938, she joined the Women's Central Subcommittee of the All India Muslim League. In 1942, the Government of India appointed her as a member of the National Defense Council. Meanwhile, the Muslim League called upon the League members to resign from the Defense Council. Upon refusing to abide by its decision, she was dismissed from the Muslim League.
In 1946, she rejoined the League and was elected as a member of the Punjab Assembly. The same year, she was sent along with M. A. H. Isphahani on a goodwill mission to the United States of America. Their mission was to explain the Muslim League's point of view. She played an important role during the Civil Disobedience Movement in Punjab in 1947, and was arrested along with other Muslim League leaders.
She passed away on November 27, 1979, at the age of 83.

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Lady Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah

Real name Sughra Begum, Lady Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah was born in 1904 in a feudal family of Shikarpur. Though brought up in strict purdah, Begum Sughra was given a liberal education, especially in religion, Urdu, Sindhi and elementary English. In 1919, she married Sir Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah, a prominent political leader of Sindh.
Lady Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah aimed her life towards helping her husband in his social and political activities. She began her political life in 1938 as a worker of the All India Muslim League. The same year she was taken on by the Women's Central Subcommittee. It was due to her efforts that various branches of the Provincial Subcommittee were formed in different districts of Sindh such as Hyderabad, Nawabshah and Dadu. In December 1943, on the occasion of the annual session of the All India Muslim League held at Karachi, she was elected President of the Women's Reception Committee.
In February 1947, Sughra Begum came to Lahore and took part in political processions, urging the Government to accept the League's demands. She led a grand procession that marched towards the Civil Secretariat at the end of February 1947. This was the same day that Sughra Begum hoisted the Muslim League flag on the secretariat building. During the Partition riots, she actively worked with the refugees to relieve their sufferings. Her services in the Women's Refugee Relief Committee were commendable.

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Begum Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan

Begum Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan was born at Almora in the United Provinces and was educated at Lucknow. She obtained a first class Masters degree with honors in economics from the University of Lucknow in 1929.
Begum Ra'ana began her practical life as a teacher in the Gokhale Memorial School after completing the Teachers Diploma Course from the Diocesan College, Calcutta. She was later appointed as Professor of Economics in the Indraprstha Girls College, Delhi.
In April 1933, she was married to Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan.
After the reorganization of Muslim League, Begum Ra'ana devoted herself to the task of creating political consciousness amongst the Muslim women. Her struggle for emancipation continued till independence of Muslims of India in 1947.
The wife of the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Begum Ra'ana took the lead in starting the women's voluntary service in 1948. Women were encouraged to take up responsibilities in administering first aid, organizing food distribution, dealing with health problems, epidemics and clothing, and above all, in providing moral and emotional support. Ra'ana Liaquat Ali also took the initiative of introducing defense training for women. This step was not well received. On her own initiative, she formed the Pakistan Women's National Guard (P. W. N. G.) and the Pakistan Women Naval Reserve (P. W. N. R.) in 1949. Begum Ra'ana was the Chief Controller of both, with the rank of a Brigadier. Viewed in the perspective of the partition massacres, where helpless women had been brutally treated, the idea was not entirely unrealistic. The P. W. N. G. and P. W. N. R. could not survive for long and were disbanded soon after Ra'ana Liaquat Ali went abroad as Pakistan's Ambassador.
In 1949, Begum Ra'ana arranged a conference of over 100 active women from all over the country. The conference announced the formation of a voluntary and non-political organization for the social, educational and cultural uplift of the women, named as All Pakistan Women Association (A. P. W. A.). She was nominated as its first President.
Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated in 1951. Begum Ra'ana continued her services for the social and economic uplift of women of Pakistan till her death.

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