UNITED NATIONS – Reminding the world leaders that no country has suffered more at the hands of terrorists than Pakistan, British Prime Minister Theresa May also remembered slain Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutoo at the 72nd UN General Assembly earlier this week.
“This year is the tenth anniversary of the death of the woman who introduced me to my husband, and who was known well to many of us in this United Nations,” said PM May in her address to the UNGA on Wednesday night.
“Benazir Bhutto was brutally murdered by people who actively rejected the values that all of us here in this United Nations stand for,” she added.
She recalled that Bhutto, who was killed in a terrorist attack in December 2007, stood against terrorism “in a country that has suffered more than most at the hands of terrorists”.
The popular Pakistani leader, she added, was “murdered for standing up for democracy, murdered for espousing tolerance, and murdered for being a woman”.
While praising Ms Bhutto’s courage and defiance, the British leader warned that “defiance alone is not enough” in the fight against terrorism.
The British premier acknowledged the woes of terrorism Pakistan is suffering in her speech and expressed solidarity with those who have been the victims of violence.
She further urged world leaders to support a reform plan to “create a more agile, transparent and joined up organisation”.
Bilawal Bhutto, the only son of former PM and incumbent chairperson of Pakistan People’s Party, thanked the British head of state for remembering his mother.
Thank you @theresa_may for remembering Shaheed #BenazirBhutto at the #UNGA . pic.twitter.com/56q5Q9Iabe
— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) September 22, 2017
The 54-year-old graduate of Oxford and Harvard was killed December 27, 2007, little more than two months after returning from exile as she campaigned to return to power.
The most definitive accounts of Bhutto´s death show an assassin shot her in the neck and then blew himself up, killing 24 people.
She was laid to rest beside her father, former premier Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who was hanged in 1979 on the orders of military dictator Zia ul-Haq, propelling his daughter to carry on his legacy.
