Nineteen years ago at the end of December, Benazir Bhutto, fresh from her first, exhilarating election victory and newly sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, met Rajiv Gandhi, the youthful prime minister of India, for talks in Islamabad. She was 35, he was 44. There was obvious good will, almost intimacy, between them. The air was full of promise and hope that these two modernizing scions of dominant political families would turn decades of war and hostility between their nations into a new era of peace.
Three and a half years later, Gandhi was assassinated. There had been no breakthrough with Pakistan to bolster his legacy. Now Bhutto is dead, at another moment of renewed anticipation. An age of hope is over.
The Al Jazeera English wrap-up of responses
Supporters and rivals alike of Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistani opposition leader, have condemned the gun and bomb attack that claimed her life at an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi.
Bhutto, who became the first female prime minister of a Muslim nation when she was first elected the prime minister in 1988, died from her wounds in hospital in Rawalpindi on Thursday.
She became the prime minister for a second time in 1993.
Rehman Malik, an official with Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, announced Bhutto's death to supporters: "She has been martyred."
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Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistani opposition leader, vowed to continue Bhutto's work after the assassination and said he shared the grief of "the entire nation".
Speaking outside the hospital where Bhutto died he said: "I assure you that I will fight your war from now on," he told Bhutto's supporters. "I share your sorrow and grief along with the entire nation."
"Benazir Bhutto was also my sister, and I will be with you to take the revenge for her death," he said.
Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, appealed on state television for the nation to remain peaceful "so that the evil designs of terrorists can be defeated".
International reaction
George Bush, the US president, said: "The US strongly condemns this cowardly act by murderous extremists who are are trying to undermine Pakistan's democracy."
"We stand with the people of Pakistan in that struggle against the forces of terror and extremism. We urge them to honour Benazir Bhutto's memory by continuing with a democratic process."
Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary general, said: "I strongly condemn this heinous crime and call for the perpetrators to be brought to justice as soon as possible."
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