Bleeding the subcontinent

Punjab governor's death in Pakistan comes in a long line of assassinations amid power struggles and political instability in the Indian subcontinent. Will peace ever be a reality here?

January 30, 1948: Mahatma Gandhi
the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated while he was walking towards a platform to address a prayer meeting. His assassin Nathuram Godse blamed Gandhi for weakening Independent India by agreeing to a payment to the newly formed Pakistan. Godse, was believed to have links with the Hindu Mahasabha, a Hindu nationalist group.
Godse and another conspirator Narayan Apte were convicted by a court of law and executed on November 15, 1949.


October 31, 1984: Indira Gandhi
India's first woman Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her bodyguards Satwant Singh and Beant Singh in the garden of the Prime Minister's residence at Safdarjung Road, New Delhi.
Her guards surrendered their arms soon after. Beant was shot dead and Satwant was later hanged at Tihar jail.
She was the Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms from 1966-1977 and from 1980 until her death in 1984.

May 21, 1991: Rajiv Gandhi
India's youngest Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi took oath at the age of 40. He was the seventh prime minister of independent India and was assassinated by a suicide bomber affiliated to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Gandhi was addressing a public meeting at Sriperumbudur, (30 miles from Chennai) when the suicide group struck. After his demise, his widow Sonia Gandhi took over the reigns of the Congress Party.

Bangladesh
Zia-UR-Rehman
Lieutenant General Zia-ur-Rahman was assassinated on May 30, 1981 at the Chittagong Circuit House by 8 of his aides and a group of army officers. His personal bodyguards were also part of the plan. Zia was a decorated war hero and was president from 1977-1981.
He is popularly known as Shaheed President Zia, and had founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), one of the country's largest political parties.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
A group of Bangladeshi Army officers invaded President Mujibur rahman's residence and killed him and his family members on August 15, 1975. Rahman's two daughters Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana survived as they were not in the house. Rahman was first the Prime Minister of the newly formed state and later became President of Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka
S Bandaranaike
S W R D Bandaranaike was the fourth Prime Minister of Sri Lanka and was shot dead by a Buddhist monk on September 26, 1959. Talduwe Somarama, a member of the Buddhist clergy, was not searched for weapons and given free access to the prime minister as he began his routine meetings with the public. When Bandaranaike rose to greet him the assassin pulled out a revolver hidden in his robes and shot the prime minister.

Ranasinghe Premadasa
R Premadasa was Sri Lanka's third president who was killed by a suicide bomber on May 1, 1993. The LTTE claimed responsibility for the attack. Premadasa was attending a May Day rally when the bomb went off. He had earlier served as the Prime Minister from 1978-1989.u00a0

Pakistan
Punjab governor shot dead
Islamabad: Pakistan People's Party leader and Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was shot dead yesterday by one of his guards who was angered by his opposition to the controversial blasphemy law.
Taseer (66), was getting into his car at the posh Kohsar Market in the heart of Islamabad when the guard from Punjab Police's Elite Force shot him with an assault rifle pumping more than 25 bullets at close range. The Governor was rushed to Polyclinic Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. This is the first brazen political assassination since the gunning down of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007.

December 27, 2007: Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto was Pakistan's first and only woman Prime Minister. She had two terms in power 1988-90 and 1993-96. She was the eldest daughter of former Pakistani prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. On December 21, 2007, Bhutto was killed while making an exit from a campaign rally for the PPP. A gunman opened fire at her when she appeared from the sunroof of her car. an explosive went off near her vehicle killing 20 more people. Her husband Asif Ali Zardari is the current President of Pakistan.

October 16, 1951: Liaquat Ali Khan
Liaquat Ali Khan was Pakistan's first Prime Minister, and a close aid of Mohammed Ali Jinnah. He played a vital role in forming a separate state of Pakistan. On 16 October 1951, Khan was shot twice in the chest during a public meeting of the Muslim City League at Rawalpindi. The police immediately shot the assassin who
was later identified as Saad Akbar Babrak . The motive behind the assassination has never revealed. Khan was rushed to a hospital but he succumbed to his injuries.

Nepali Royal Massacre
June 1, 2001
Prince Dipendra killed nine members of his family and himself at a house in the grounds of the Narayanhity Royal Palace, then the residence of the Nepalese monarchy on June 1, 2001.
The dead included King Birendra of Nepal and Queen Aishwarya, Dipendra's parents. Prince Dipendra became de jure King of Nepal upon his father's death, however he slipped into coma and diedu00a0 three days later. His uncle Gyanendra then became the king.