Top 10 political assassinations in Pakistan

New Delhi: The political life in Pakistan has been punctuated with assassinations since 1947.An assassination is the deliberate killing of a person for a motive which may be jealousy, political, religious, and ideological.The record of deliberate killings of public figures to eliminate rivals in Pakistan is very high and demands an action by the electoral agency for a fair election process.Here is a compilation of 10 such famous assassinations in the country:1. Liaquat Ali Khan The First Prime Minister of Pakistan and country's longest serving PM, a political theorist and an active member of All India Muslim League.He played a vital role in the partition of India and was known as the right hand of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.On October 16, 1951 he was shot twice in the chest by Saad Akbar Babrak at a public meeting in Rawalpindi.Babrak was an Afghan national and a professional assassin from Hazara.His assassination was not investigated properly by the then Pakistan government. 2. Muhammad Zia- Ul Haq The President of Pakistan, and Chief of Army Staff from 1978 to 1988, Zia seized power from Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in a bloodless coup on July 5, 1977, and became chief martial-law administrator while retaining his position as Army chief of staff.He died a mysterious death in a plane crash on Aug, 17, 1988 near Bahawalpur airport.On board were US Ambassador, chief of the US military mission in Pakistan, and a group of senior officers from Pakistan army with him.The plane lost control suddenly and hit the ground and was broken into pieces.Witnesses cited in Pakistan's official investigation said that the C-130 began to pitch "in an up-and-down motion" while flying low shortly after take-off before going into a "near-vertical dive", exploding on impact, killing all on board.No evidence has come to light although many theories exist about the mysterious plane crash. 3. Benazir Bhutto Served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir belonged to the political family of Bhuttos. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, former PM of Pakistan and member of Pakistan People's Party.In 1996, her career came to a downfall after charges of corruption were levelled on her by President Farooq Ahmed Leghari and she went on nine years exile.After she returned to Pakistan in 2007, she was assassinated in a bombing on 27th December.She was assassinated while she was leaving for PPP campaign rally for 2008 general elections in which she was the opposing candidate.The Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility of the attack. 4. Murtaza Bhutto Benazir's brother and her biggest enemy, Murtaza was the leader of al-Zulfiqar, a terrorist organization. He was sent to exile in Afghanistan and returned to his country in 1993.He then contested elections Sindh Provincial Assembly. After the increasing tiff between the brother and sister, Murtaza was shot dead along with six associates in a police encounter near his home in Karachi on 20 September 1996.Asif Ali Zardari, husband of Benazir was indicted for Muratza's death but was then acquitted in 2008. 5. Shahnawaz Bhutto The youngest of the four children of the Bhutto family, Shahnawaz and his elder brother Murtaza Bhutto had embarked on an international campaign to save their father's life, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.The two brothers, resisted the military regime of Mohammed Zia ul-Haq.On July 18, 1985, the 26 year old Shahnawaz was found dead in Nice, France. His wife, Rehana who belonged to a royal Afghan family was suspected for Shahnawaz killing but no evidence was found.So she was allowed to move to US.Pakistani media, which was under Zia's control, attributed his death to drug and alcohol abuse. 6. Akbar Khan Bugti The 13th Governor of Balochistan, he led the armed struggle in Balochistan in 2004 for greater autonomy to the place.On August 26, 2006, he was killed by a bomb explosion in his cave, during a military crackdown ordered by General Pervez Musharraf.On 11 July 2012 a Pakistani anti-terrorism court at Sibi in Balochistan province issued arrest warrants for former military ruler Pervez Musharraf and several others who were accused of involvement in the killing of Akbar Bugti in 2006.He was then granted bail in the case. But now he has been ordered to appear before the ATC court on Feb 3. 7. Shahbaz Bhatti He was a Roman Catholic, the only minority politician in the cabinet.He had served as the minister for minority affairs from November 2008.He was a critic of Pakistan's blasphemy laws.He was assassinated on 2 March 2011 in Islamabad, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for his killing. 8. Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan Also known as the pioneer of Indian Independence movement, he was the brother of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the “Frontier Gandhi” who opposed All-India Muslim League's demand for the partition of India.He was a Pakistani politician. He was assassinated by Atta Mohammad at approximately 8:30 am on May 9, 1958. This tragic incident occurred while Dr. Khan Sahib was sitting in the garden of his son Sadullah Khan's house at 16 Aikman Road, GOR, Lahore.He was waiting for Colonel Syed Abid Hussein of Jhang to accompany him to a meeting organized in connection with the scheduled February 1959 General Elections.9. Salmaan Taseer Pakistani businessman and politician who served as the 26th governor of the province of Punjab from 2008 until his assassination in early 2011.On 4 January 2011, Taseer was assassinated in Islamabad by his own security guard Mumtaz Qadri, who disagreed with Taseer's opposition to Pakistan's blasphemy law. 10. Mir Noor-ud-din Mengal He was a senior Baloch politician who was active in Balochistan's political scene for nearly four decades, from 1970 to 2010. On 13 October 2010 he had gone to the market in Kalat to get his Blood Pressure checked. As soon as he got back and turned his car into the gate of his house, unknown gunmen riding a motorcycle came up behind him and opened indiscriminate fire upon him.He was hit by three bullets; One in the neck and two in the back. He was immediately rushed to the local hospital but none of the doctors who were supposed to be on duty were there.Mengal was sent to Quetta without being given basic first aid.He died on the way to Quetta due to profuse bleeding.