Pakistan marks five years since Bhutto murder

Vast crowds gathered on Thursday to mark the fifth anniversary of the assassination of former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto, and to witness her son launch his own political career.

More than 200,000 people gathered at the family mausoleum in Garhi Dera Bakhsh in the southern province of Sindh to pay their respects and to hear Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of Benazir and of President Asif Ali Zardari, make his first major public speech.

Bhutto, twice elected prime minister, was killed in a gun and suicide attack after an election rally in Rawalpindi, the headquarters of Pakistan’s army, on December 27, 2007. No one has ever been convicted of her murder.

Security was tight around a huge stage, adorned with the red, black and green tricolour of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), where Oxford-educated Bilawal will speak.

Surveillance helicopters hovered overhead as police commandos stood alert and sniffer dogs searched for explosives. Police said more than 15,000 officers had been deployed, as well as some 500 government paramilitary forces.

The Bhutto family has been a force in Pakistani politics for almost all of the country’s 65-year history.