Amidst virtually uncontrolled outbursts of public jubilation, massive traffic jams caused by thousands of spectators on foot and in buses, vans and cars, and very tight security to boot, Benazir Bhutto, 34, chief of the Pakistan People’s Party, was married to Asif Zardari, 34, in Karachi. The public wedding reception turned out to be a spectacular display of crowd participation as literally hundreds of invitees and spectators thronged along the route to Kakri Grounds in Lyari, one of Karachi’s most densely populated enclaves and liberally populated by PPP supporters. The public wedding came after a reception for the elite at the KMC Garden in Clifton where Benazir and Asif made their first appearance as husband and wife. Dressed relatively simply but looking every inch a traditional bride, Benazir was accompanied by members of the Bhutto and Zardari clans and very close personal friends. The ‘nikah’ ceremony was solemnised by a Bhutto family maulvi who was brought to Karachi from the family’s ancestral village in Sind.
Other important events
1865 Slavery officially abolished in the US.
1890 Frederick Lugard occupies Uganda for the British East Africa Company.
1927 Chiang Kai-shek overthrows the Hankow government in China.
1935 Edward Benes becomes President of Czechoslovakia.
1940 Adolf Hitler signs a secret directive ordering preparations for a Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.
1948 Dutch renew offensive in Indonesia and overthrow Sukarno government.
1956 Japan is admitted to United Nations.
1958 First communications satellite broadcast is made in the US.
1961 India annexes Portuguese colonies of Goa, Daman and Diu.
1969 Britain’s parliament abolishes the death penalty for murder.
1970 Divorce law goes into effect in Italy despite opposition by Roman Catholic Church.
1972 US begin the heaviest bombing of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
1973 Syria refuses to attend Middle East peace talks in Geneva.
1978 Dominica joins United Nations.
1979 Rhodesian leaders Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe initial an agreement ending the seven-year bush war against white domination.
1980 Former Soviet Union prime minister Alexei Kosygin dies of a heart attack.
1981 Unanimous UN vote declares Israel’s annexation of Golan Heights “null and void”.
1987 Ivan F. Boesky is sentenced to three years in prison for plotting Wall Street’s biggest insider-trading scandal.
1991 Inkatha leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi withdraws from negotiations on ending apartheid.
1992 Kim Young-sam becomes South Korea’s first civilian president after 32 years of military rule.
1994 Former Communists win Bulgarian elections.
1996 Tupac Amaru guerrillas hold 490 hostages in the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Lima, Peru.
1999 Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga injures in assassination attempt at an election rally in Colombo.
2004 Sudan starts withdrawing the troops in Darfur ahead of an evening deadline to end fighting.
2007 Jacob Zuma is elected as leader of African National Congress.
2011 Last US troops cross the border, formally marking the end of the Iraq War.
2012 Six polio vaccination workers are killed by militants in Karachi, Pakistan.
2013 India’s parliament pass the Lokpal (anti-corruption) Bill, 46 years after it was first introduced.
2015 Al Jubail Vegetable and Fish Market officially opens in Sharjah.
2016 An Indonesian military Hercules C-130 transport plane crashes in bad weather in Papua province, killing all 13 people on board.
