The lead commissioner of the UN investigation into the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto recounts his year-long investigation into this tragic event that forever changed U.S.-Pakistani relations.

Benazir Bhutto was twice prime minister of Pakistan, and was campaigning for a return to power when she was assassinated on December 27, 2007. She was born into a political family - her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was Pakistan's Prime Minister from 1973-77, and was deposed, imprisoned, and finally executed after a military coup. Benazir was imprisoned repeatedly before leaving for exile in London. She began to take interest in the political activities of her father's party - Pakistan people's Party (PPP), and returned to Pakistan in 1986. And in 1988, she was elected Prime Minister. For the next decade she was one of the most prominent women leaders in the world, and was seen in particular as a symbol of progress in women's rights. Bhutto was again forced into exile in 1999 and came back to Pakistan in October 2007 to lead her party in upcoming national elections. This book provides deep insights into the life and achievements of Benazir Bhutto. Going deep into her family background, her early childhood and education, it describes how her father was hanged and how she entered politics. Her policies and achievements as Prime Minister of Pakistan has also been discussed. Her important speeches and interview have been incorporated as well.

A major new investigation into the Bhutto family, examining their influence in Pakistan from the colonial era to the present day "Fluently written, impeccably researched and never short of extraordinary insights, this is a landmark publication."--Farzana Shaikh, Literary Review The Bhutto family has long been one of the most ambitious and powerful in Pakistan. But politics has cost the Bhuttos dear. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, widely regarded as the most talented politician in the country's history, was removed from power in 1977 and executed two years later, at the age of 51. Of his four children, three met unnatural deaths: Shahnawaz was poisoned in 1985 at the age of 27; Murtaza was shot by the police outside his home in 1996, aged 42; and Benazir Bhutto, who led the Pakistan Peoples Party and became Prime Minister twice, was killed by a suicide bomber in Rawalpindi in 2007, aged 54. Drawing on original research and unpublished documents gathered over twenty years, Owen Bennett-Jones explores the turbulent existence of this extraordinary family, including their volatile relationship with British colonialists, the Pakistani armed forces, and the United States.

Drawing on personal anecdotes, meeting, off-the record conversations with Benazir Bhutto, and the emails that he exchanged with her just before ther death, Amir Mir, one of Pakistan's leading investigative journalist, brings us a carefully documented reconstruction of the assassination that rocked the world.

Veteran Pakistani journalist and commentator Zahid Hussain explores Pakistan's complex political power web and the consequences of Musharraf's decision to support America's drive against jihadism, which essentially took Pakistan to war with itself. Conducting exclusive interviews with key players and grassroots radicals, Hussain pinpoints the origin of the jihadi movement in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the long-standing and often denied links between militants and Pakistani authorities, the weaknesses of successive elected governments, and the challenges to Musharraf's authority posed by politico-religious, sectarian, and civil society elements within the country. The jihadi madrassas of Pakistan are incubators of the most feared terrorists in the world. Although the country's "war on terror" has so far been a stage show, a very real battle is looming, the outcome of which will have grave implications for the future security of the world.

Beautiful and charismatic, the daughter of one of Pakistan's most popular leaders -- Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, hanged by General Zia in 1979 -- Benazir Bhutto is not only the first woman to lead a post-colonial Muslim state, she achieved a status approaching that of a royal princess, only to be stripped of her power in another example of the bitter political in-fighting that has riven her country. From her upbringing in one of Pakistan's richest families, the shock of the contrast of her Harvard and Oxford education, and subsequent politicisation and arrest after her father's death, Bhutto's life has been full of drama. Her riveting autobiography, first published in 1988 and now updated to cover her own activities since then and how her country has changed since being thrust into the international limelight after 9/11, is an inspiring tale of strength, dedication and courage in the face of adversity.