A murder of an individual is called
assassination, who is usually a famous celebrity, politician, religious
figure or royal. Usually in cases of assassination there is a clear
motive – jealousy, political or religious idealism, contract killing,
revenge etc. As the world moved into the modern day, the killing of
important people began to become more than a tool in power struggles
between rulers themselves and was also used for political symbolism,
such as in the propaganda of the deed. Ever since the Moabite King Eglon
was stabbed to death on his throne in 1200 BCE and probably long before
that, the political leaders have been killed for any number of reasons.
Assassinations may be prompted by religious, ideological, political, or
military reasons but the end result is targeted killing of a public
figure, whom we know well or we love. Here is a list of 10 notable
assassinations of most famous and beloved political leaders and the
places where they were assassinated. Lets start the list of Famous
Political Leaders who were Assassinated.
10 Famous Political Leaders who were Assassinated.
1. Benazir Bhutto: Pakistan
The
Chair-Person of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Benazir Bhutto was the
most famous Pakistani woman socialist-democratic politician who was the
11th Prime Minister of Pakistan. B. B. was the first woman elected to
lead a Muslim state, having twice been Prime Minister of Pakistan in two
non-consecutive terms (1988–1990; 1993–1996). She was Pakistan’s first
and to date only female prime minister and was the eldest child of Prime
Minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and First Lady of Pakistan
Nusrat Bhutto, and was the wife of current President of Pakistan Asif
Ali Zardari. As the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto
was an icon of the battle for democracy, and stands with only a handful
of female executive leaders who have shaped the global events of the
last century. On 27 December 2007, Bhutto was killed while leaving a
campaign rally for the PPP at Liaquat National Bagh in the city of
Rawalpindi, where she addressed a rally of Pakistan Peoples Party
supporters for the run-up to the parliamentary elections 2008. Bhutto
was leaving the rally at her white Toyota Land Cruiser when the attack
occurred. After entering her bulletproof vehicle, Bhutto stood up
through its sunroof to wave to the crowds. At this point, a gunman fired
shots at her and subsequently explosives were detonated near the
vehicle killing approximately 20 people. Bhutto was critically wounded
and was rushed to Rawalpindi General Hospital but she was declared dead
at 18:16 local time.
2. John F. Kennedy: USA
John
Fitzgerald “Jack” Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States,
serving from 1961 until his death in 1963. After Kennedy’s military
service as commander of the Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 during World War
II in the South Pacific, he became a Democratic Congressman from the
Boston area, advancing in 1953 to the Senate. He married Jacqueline
Bouvier on September 12, 1953. In 1955, while recuperating from a back
operation, he wrote Profiles in Courage, which won the Pulitzer Prize in
history. In 1956 Kennedy almost gained the Democratic nomination for
Vice President, and four years later was a first-ballot nominee for
President. Millions watched his television debates with the Republican
candidate, Richard M. Nixon. Winning by a narrow margin in the popular
vote, Kennedy became the first Roman Catholic President. On November 22,
1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, John
Fitzgerald Kennedy was killed by an assassin’s bullets as his motorcade
wound through Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was the youngest man elected
President; he was the youngest to die.
3. Indira Gandhi: India
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Indira
Priyadarshini Gandhi was an Indian politician who served as the third
Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms (1966–77) and a
fourth term (1980–84). Gandhi was the second female head of government
in the world after Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, and she remains
as the world’s second longest serving female Prime Minister as of 2012.
She was the first woman to become prime minister in India. She was the
only child of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent
India. She established closer relations with the Soviet Union, depending
on that nation for support in India’s long-standing conflict with
Pakistan. She was also the only Indian Prime Minister to have declared
state of emergency in order to ‘rule by decree’ and the only Indian
Prime Minister to have been imprisoned after holding that office. She
was assassinated at 9:20 AM on October 31, 1984, at Prime Minister’s
Residence at No. 1, Safdarjung Road in New Delhi. She was killed by two
of her Sikh bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, in the aftermath
of Operation Blue Star.
4. Martin Luther King, Jr.: United States
Martin
Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent
leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known
for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil
disobedience. King has become a national icon in the history of modern
American liberalism. King became a civil rights activist early in his
career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first
president. In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel
Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial
discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means.
By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending
poverty and stopping the Vietnam War. On April 4, 1968, a shot rang out
as King stood on the motel’s second floor balcony. The bullet entered
through his right cheek, smashing his jaw, then traveled down his spinal
cord before lodging in his shoulder. The events following the shooting
have been disputed. After emergency chest surgery, King was pronounced
dead at St. Joseph’s Hospital in an hour. King’s autopsy revealed that
though only thirty-nine years old, he had the heart of a sixty-year-old
man, perhaps a result of the stress of thirteen years in the civil
rights movement. The assassination led to a nationwide wave of riots in
more than 100 cities.
5. Abraham Lincoln: USA
Abraham
Lincoln, nicknamed Honest Abe, was the 16th President of the United
States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Honest Abe
steered his country through the American Civil War and ended slavery
within the country’s boundaries. He also had the reputation of being
respectful and fair. His tenure in office was occupied primarily with
the defeat of the secessionist Confederate States of America in the
American Civil War. Lincoln successfully defused the Trent affair, a war
scare with Britain late in 1861. Lincoln successfully rallied public
opinion through his rhetoric and speeches; his Gettysburg Address (1863)
became an iconic symbol of the nation’s duty. At the close of the war,
Lincoln held a moderate view of Reconstruction, seeking to speedily
reunite the nation through a policy of generous reconciliation. Lincoln
has consistently been ranked by scholars as one of the greatest of all
U.S. Presidents. The assassination of Abraham Lincoln took place on Good
Friday, April 14, 1865, as the American Civil War was drawing to a
close. The assassination occurred five days after the commander of the
Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, General Robert E. Lee,
surrendered to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant and the Union Army of
the Potomac. Lincoln was the first American president to be
assassinated, though an unsuccessful attempt had been made on Andrew
Jackson thirty years before in 1835.
6. Liaquat Ali Khan: Pakistan
Nawabzada
Liaquat Ali Khan was one of the leading Founding Fathers of modern
Pakistan, statesman, lawyer, and political theorist who became and
served as the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, in addition, was also
the first Defence minister and minister of Commonwealth and Kashmir
Affairs, from 1947 until his assassination in 1951. Liaquat rose to
political prominence as a member of the All India Muslim League. He
played a vital role in the independence of India and Pakistan. In 1947,
he became the prime minister of Pakistan. He is regarded as the
right-hand man of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League
and first governor-general of Pakistan. On 16 October 1951, he was shot
twice in the chest during a public meeting of the Muslim City League at
Company Bagh, Rawalpindi. The police immediately shot the assassin who
was later identified as Saad Akbar Babrak. Khan was rushed to a hospital
and given a blood transfusion, but he succumbed to his injuries. The
exact motive behind the assassination has never been fully revealed. The
assassination is still a very big question mark because it was never
investigated properly.
7. King Faisal: Saudi Arabia
Faisal
bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was King of Saudi Arabia from 1964 to 1975. As
king, he is credited with rescuing the country’s finances and
implementing a policy of modernization and reform, while his main
foreign policy themes were pan-Islamism, anti-Communism, and
pro-Palestinian nationalism. He successfully stabilized the kingdom’s
bureaucracy and his reign had significant popularity among Saudis. On 25
March 1975, King Faisal was shot point-blank and killed by his
half-brother’s son, Faisal bin Musaid, who had just come back from the
United States. The murder occurred at a majlis. In the waiting room,
Prince Faisal talked to Kuwaiti representatives who were also waiting to
meet King Faisal. When the Prince went to embrace him, King Faisal
leaned to kiss his nephew in accordance with Saudi culture. At that
instant, Prince Faisal took out a pistol and shot him.
8. Thomas D’Arcy McGee: Canada
Thomas
D’Arcy Etienne Hughes McGee was an Irish Nationalist, Catholic
spokesman, journalist, and a Father of Canadian Confederation. He fought
for the development of Irish and Canadian national identities that
would transcend their component groups. He is, to date, the only
Canadian victim of political assassination at the federal level. In
terms of economics he promoted modernization, calling for extensive
economic development by means of railway construction, the fostering of
immigration, and the application of a high protective tariff to
encourage manufacturing. Politically active, he advocated a new
nationality in Canada, to escape the sectarianism of Ireland. On April
7, 1868, McGee participated in a parliamentary debate that went on past
midnight. Afterward he walked to his Sparks St. boarding house at 2:00
AM. While trying to enter the boarding house ,the door was locked from
the inside and McGee was waiting for the landlady to open the door, he
was purportedly assassinated by Patrick J. Whelan as the door was being
opened. Patrick J. Whelan, a Fenian sympathizer and a Catholic, was
accused, tried, convicted, and hanged for the crime.
9. Rafic Hariri: Lebanon
Rafic
Baha El Deen Al-Hariri (November 1, 1944 – February 14, 2005), was a
business tycoon and the Prime Minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and
again from 2000 until his resignation, 20 October 2004. He headed five
cabinets during his tenure. Hariri dominated the country’s post-war
political and business life and is widely credited with reconstructing
Beirut after the 15-year civil war. Hariri was assassinated on 14
February 2005 when explosives equivalent to around 1000 kg of TNT were
detonated as his motorcade drove past the St. George Hotel in the
Lebanese capital, Beirut. The investigation, by the Special Tribunal for
Lebanon, into his assassination is still ongoing and currently led by
the independent investigator Daniel Bellemare. In its first two reports,
UNIIIC indicated that the Syrian government may be linked to the
assassination.According to a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation news
investigation, the special UN investigation team had found strong
evidence for the responsibility of Hezbollah in the assassination.
Hariri’s killing led to massive political change in Lebanon, including
the Cedar Revolution and the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.
10. Mahatma Gandhi: India
Indian
political activist and spiritual leader, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,
commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was the preeminent leader of Indian
nationalism in British-ruled India. The voice of non-violence in an
increasingly violent world, when the emaciated Indian holy man was
gunned down on the streets of New Delhi by a university student turned
activist, it was a tremendous blow not only to India, but to the entire
world. His policies of compassion towards the poor and non-violent
resistance served as a blueprint for peaceful change, while his ability
to affect both Hindu and Muslim alike made peace of a kind, possible in
his war torn nation. The only positive thing that can be said, if such
is possible, is that it was fortunate his assailant was a fellow Hindu.
On 30 January 1948, Gandhi was shot while he was walking to a platform
from which he was to address a prayer meeting. The assassin, Nathuram
Godse, was a Hindu nationalist with links to the extremist Hindu
Mahasabha, who held Gandhi responsible for weakening India by insisting
upon a payment to Pakistan.
