Murtaza Bhutto
The exiled son of a deposed prime minister, he waged a violent, doomed campaign against Pakistan's military dictatorship from afar.
1954–1996 (age 42)·Pakistani politician and militant·Birthday: September 18·Baby Boomers
Biography
Murtaza Bhutto's life was irrevocably shaped by the 1977 military coup that overthrew his father, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and the latter's execution two years later. Educated at Harvard and Oxford, he swapped a life of political privilege for one of revolutionary exile. From Kabul, he founded Al-Zulfikar, a left-wing militant organization dedicated to overthrowing General Zia-ul-Haq's regime. The group's most audacious act was the 1981 hijacking of a Pakistan International Airlines plane, a operation that announced Murtaza as a serious, if controversial, threat. His methods, including claims of assassination, made him a fugitive and a polarizing figure—a revolutionary hero to some, a terrorist to others. After years in exile, he returned to Pakistan following Zia's death, seeking to reclaim his political birthright, only to be killed in a mysterious police shootout in Karachi, a death many believe was an assassination, cementing his tragic place in the Bhutto family saga.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Murtaza was born in 1954, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Murtaza Was Born
The biggest hits of 1954
#1 Movie
White Christmas
Best Picture
On the Waterfront
#1 TV Show
I Love Lucy
Murtaza's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1954Born
Brown v. Board of Education desegregates US schools
Gas: $0.29/galHome: $8,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Little Things Mean a Lot" — Kitty KallenBest Picture: On the Waterfront
1959Started school
Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $12,400Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"The Battle of New Orleans" — Johnny HortonBest Picture: Ben-Hur
1967Became a teenager
Summer of Love in San Francisco; first Super Bowl
Gas: $0.33/galHome: $14,250Min wage: $1.40/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"To Sir, with Love" — LuluBest Picture: In the Heat of the Night
1970Could drive
First Earth Day; The Beatles break up
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $17,000Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Bridge over Troubled Water" — Simon & GarfunkelBest Picture: Patton
1972Could vote
Watergate break-in; last Apollo Moon mission
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $19,550Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" — Roberta FlackBest Picture: The Godfather
1975Turned 21
Fall of Saigon ends the Vietnam War
Gas: $0.57/galHome: $27,600Min wage: $2.10/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Love Will Keep Us Together" — Captain & TennilleBest Picture: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1984Turned 30
Apple Macintosh introduced
Gas: $1.13/galHome: $59,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"When Doves Cry" — PrinceBest Picture: Amadeus
1994Turned 40
Nelson Mandela elected president of South Africa
Gas: $1.11/galHome: $90,400Min wage: $4.25/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"The Sign" — Ace of BaseBest Picture: Forrest Gump
1996Died at 42
Dolly the sheep cloned
Gas: $1.23/galHome: $99,700Min wage: $4.75/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Macarena" — Los del RioBest Picture: The English Patient
Key Achievements
- Founded and led the militant organization Al-Zulfikar, which conducted operations against the military regime of General Zia-ul-Haq.
- Al-Zulfikar claimed responsibility for the 1981 hijacking of a Pakistan International Airlines flight, a major challenge to Zia's authority.
- Was elected as a member of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh in 1993, marking his formal entry into Pakistani electoral politics.
Did You Know?
He earned a bachelor's degree in government from Harvard University.
His daughter, Fatima Bhutto, is a well-known writer and journalist.
He spent much of his exile in Syria and Afghanistan.
His death in 1996 occurred outside his home in Karachi, and the circumstances remain a subject of controversy in Pakistan.
“My father's murder turned me from a student into a soldier.”
