Bhutto, Zulfiqar Ali

Bhutto, Zulfiqar Ali (b. Al Murtaza, Larkana, 5 Jan. 1928; d. Rawalpindi, 4 Apr. 1979) Pakistani; President and then Prime Minister 1971–7 The son of a Sindhi feudal landowner, Bhutto was educated at Bombay Cathedral High School and Berkeley and Oxford Universities. After Ayub Khan's 1958 coup, Bhutto became Minister of Commerce and Industries. He made his name however as an expert on foreign affairs and held this Cabinet office from 1963 to 1966. His outlook was fervently anti-Indian and pro-Chinese. Bhutto clashed with Ayub over the Tashkent Treaty which followed the 1965 Indo-Pakistan War. In November 1967 he founded the Pakistan People's Party which propounded an ideology of Islamic socialism. The PPP co-ordinated the campaign which led to Ayub Khan's replacement by the army chief Yahya Khan.

The PPP triumphed in the West Pakistan constituencies in Pakistan's first national elections in 1970. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's Awami League similarly succeeded in East Pakistan. The inability to share power or to meet East Pakistani demands for autonomy resulted in the tragedy of the Bangladesh War. Pakistan's defeat by India ended Yahya's power. Bhutto in December 1971 replaced him, initially as civilian martial law administrator. He became Prime Minister following the introduction of the 1973 constitution.

Bhutto's populism encompassed nationalization, land reform, and administrative reform designed to curb the power of the dominant élites. In foreign affairs, he shifted Pakistan into the Islamic and Third World orbit from its more traditional pro-Western stance. His greatest triumphs were the holding of the 1974 Islamic Summit in Lahore and the return of the 93,000 Pakistani prisoners of war following the June 1972 Simla summit with Indira Gandhi.

By the March 1977 elections however, Bhutto's popularity appeared to be fading. The opposition Pakistan National Alliance claimed that the PPP's sweeping victory resulted from widespread rigging. Its civil disobedience campaign was linked with the demand for an Islamic social order. Despite Bhutto's concessions, he was forced to introduce martial law in a number of cities. On 5 July Zia-ul-Huq launched a coup.

Zia cancelled the elections he had promised for October. The Lahore High Court found Bhutto guilty of the charge of conspiracy to murder a political oppponent on 18 March 1978 and sentenced him to death, despite the weakness of the prosecution case. The Supreme Court by a majority of one upheld the sentence. Despite an international clamour for clemency, Bhutto was hastily executed on 4 April 1979 at Rawalpindi Central Jail.

Bhutto remains a controversial figure in Pakistani politics; admirers point to his concern for the downtrodden, his dynamism, and his foreign policy achievements. Detractors emphasize his arbitrariness and vanity and claim that he was directly responsible for the dismemberment of Pakistan.