Assassinated Pakistani Politicians

Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a direct role in matters of the state, may also sometimes be considered an assassination. An assassination may be prompted by political and military motives, or done for financial gain, to avenge a grievance, from a desire to acquire fame or notoriety, or because of a military, security, insurgent or secret police group's command to carry out the assassination. Acts of assassination have been performed since ancient times. A person who carries out an assassination is called an assassin or hitman.

Etymology

The word ''assassin'' may be derived from '' asasiyyin'' (Arabic: أَسَاسِيِّين‎, ʾasāsiyyīn) from أَسَاس‎ (ʾasās, "foundation, basis") + ـِيّ‎ (-iyy), meaning "people who are faithful to the foundation f the faith"

''Assassin'' is often believed to derive from the word ''hashshashin'' (Arabic: حشّاشين, ħashshāshīyīn), and shares its etymological roots with ''hashish'' ( or ; from Arabic: ').''The Assassins: a radical sect in Islam'' – Bernard Lewis, pp. 11–12 It referred to a group of Nizari Ismailis known as the Order of Assassins who worked against various political targets.

Founded by Hassan-i Sabbah, the Assassins were active in the fortress of Alamut in Persia from the 8th to the 14th centuries, and later expanded into a de facto state by acquiring or building many scattered strongholds. The group killed members of the Abbasid, Seljuk, Fatimid, and Christian Crusader elite for political and religious reasons.

Although it is commonly believed that Assassins were under the influence of hashish during their killings or during their indoctrination, there is debate as to whether these claims have merit, with many Eastern writers and an increasing number of Western academics coming to believe that drug-taking was not the key feature behind the name.

The earliest known use of the verb "to assassinate" in printed English was by Matthew Sutcliffe in ''A Briefe Replie to a Certaine Odious and Slanderous Libel, Lately Published by a Seditious Jesuite'', a pamphlet printed in 1600, five years before it was used in ''Macbeth'' by William Shakespeare (1605).

Use in history

Ancient to medieval times

Assassination is one of the oldest tools of power politics. It dates back at least as far as recorded history.

In the Old Testament, King Joash of Judah was assassinated by his own servants; Joab assassinated Absalom, King David's son; and King Sennacherib of Assyria was assassinated by his own sons.

Chanakya (–283 BC) wrote about assassinations in detail in his political treatise ''Arthashastra''. His student Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Maurya Empire, later made use of assassinations against some of his enemies. Some famous assassination victims are Philip II of Macedon (336 BC), the father of Alexander the Great, and Roman dictator Julius Caesar (44 BC). Emperors of Rome often met their end in this way, as did many of the Muslim Shia Imam