Let’s look at major events that happened today in history;
Today in History
2007 Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan
The former Prime Minister of Pakistan and daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the 9th PM of Pakistan, Benazir returned to Pakistan after living 8 years in London and Dubai in self-imposed exile. Two months later she was assassinated in a bombing while campaigning for the forthcoming elections.
Story
After eight years in self-imposed exile, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan on Thursday to a jubilant welcome from tens of thousands of her supporters, hoping to launch an ambitious political comeback.
The 54-year-old Bhutto sobbed and prayed as she descended from the plane that had brought her from Dubai at Karachi International Airport amid tight security. She stated that Pakistan was at a crossroads between dictatorship and democracy. “I hope this democratic moment succeeds,” she told reporters on the plane.
“I am excited and overwhelmed,” the two-time prime minister said moments after stepping off the plane, dressed in a green salwar-kameez and holding prayer beads in her right hand.
“I’m very emotional about returning to my homeland.” I had been fantasizing about this moment for a long time. “I hope I can live up to the people of Pakistan’s expectations.”
She said that the image of Pakistan as a breeding ground for terrorists behind attacks in the West was a “wrong” one, and the people wanted to build a strong democratic set-up that would help change the country. “We will all work together for the poor people. Our agenda is the agenda of Pakistan, the agenda of the poor people,” the chief of the opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) said. “The people should emerge, winners, walk on the path of peace and progress, and get employment.”
The government reacted cautiously to Bhutto’s arrival, facilitated by National Reconciliation Ordinance promulgated by embattled Musharraf to drop graft charges against her. “The turnout is impressive but not like the turnout when Benazir returned from exile in 1986,” railway minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, a close aide of Musharraf, said. “The government is in touch with her (Bhutto), and whenever she needs to get in touch with the government she can do so. Earlier there was a back channel contact, now there is direct contact.”
The arrival of Bhutto, who vowed to lead her party in the general election, was in sharp contrast to her political rival and former PM Nawaz Sharif’s return from exile on September 10 when he was bundled to Jeddah within hours of coming home from London.
1998 Jesse Pipeline Explosion in Nigeria Kills Over 200
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation owned the oil pipeline, was situated just outside the Lagos. Over 200 people died in the resulting fire that raged for 6 days before it could be put out.
1967 First Space Probe to Enter the Atmosphere of Another Planet
The Soviet Probe Venera 4 entered Venus’ atmosphere and sent back information to Earth for about 90 minutes before it lost contact. When Venera 7 landed on Venus a few years later, it became the first probe to land on another planet.
1867 Alaska Becomes a Part of the United States
US had purchased the large and sparsely populated territory of Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. The purchase was not seen as a positive acquirement by many American citizens who believed that adding Alaska to the US’s territory was a waste of taxpayers’ money. Many called the act Seward’s folly after Secretary of State William H. Seward, who was responsible for making the purchase. Alaska was admitted to the Union as a state in 1959. October 18 is annually celebrated as Alaska Day in Alaska.
1851 Moby Dick is Published for the First Time
The epic written by American novelist, Herman Melville, is about a sailor’s obsession with tracking down and killing an elusive whale that took his leg in a previous encounter. The book was published as The Whale in London for the first time and then a month later as Moby Dick in the United States. It is considered one of the best works of fiction written in modern times.
