ISLAMABAD, Janfuary 5: The 89th birth anniversary of the founder of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was observed on Thursday.
One of the most charismatic and renowned politicians in the history of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was born on January 5th, 1928.
He received his early education from Bombay’s Cathedral High School. He was admitted in the prestigious University of Southern California in 1947 and went on to join University of California at Berkeley in June 1949. He was conferred an honors degree in Political Sciences from the prestigious Oxford University.
He got married to Begum Nusrat Isphahani on September 8, 1951 and their first child, Benazir Bhutto, was born on June 21, 1953.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto started his political career when he became a member of former President Iskander Mirza’s Cabinet in 1958, where he served as the Commerce Minister. After Iskander Mirza’s government was toppled by former Army Chief General (Retd.) Ayub Khan, Bhutto became the Foreign Minister after succeeding Mohammad Ali Bogra from his position.
Bhutto’s first accomplishment of his political career was to complete the Sino-Pakistan boundary agreement in 1963. He also stressed upon Ayub to form economic and social ties with Turkey and Iran which later formed the Regional Cooperation for Development (R.C.D) in 1964. He later quit as member of the Cabinet over political differences with the military dictator over Tashkent Agreement.
After his resignation from Ayub’s government, he formed the Pakistan People’s Party. He won the majority seats in the general elections of 1970 in the West Pakistan but did not come to an agreement with Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman who had the majority in East Pakistan now known as Bangladesh. Ex-military dictator General Yahya Khan stepped down and Bhutto became the President on 20th December, 1971. – DNA
