The assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the 54-year-old former Pakistani prime minister and opposition leader, in the city of Rawalpindi has a grim symbolism. It was there nearly 29 years ago that her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, also a former prime minister, was hanged by a previous military regime.

Ms Bhutto’s death in the middle of an election campaign throws the political future of the country into confusion. Yet she was never in doubt about the potential threat to her life.