Benazir Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto was a Pakistani politician and stateswoman who served as the prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996. She holds the distinction of being the first woman elected to head a democratic government in a Muslim-majority country. As a liberal and secularist, she chaired or co-chaired the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) from the early 1980s until her death in 2007.

Early life and education

Bhutto was born in Karachi on 21 June 1953 to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Nusrat Ispahani. Her father was a prominent barrister and politician, while her mother was of Kurdish descent from a wealthy merchant family in Isfahan. The Bhutto family belonged to the landed gentry of Sindh and possessed significant wealth after Shah Nawaz Bhutto died in 1957. Benazir was the first child of the couple and grew up alongside three younger siblings: Murtaza, Sanam, and Shahnawaz.

She attended the Lady Jennings Nursery School and the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Karachi before moving to a boarding school in Murree. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, she participated in air-raid practices while studying at the Jesus and Mary Convent. After passing her O-levels with high grades in December 1968, she pursued higher education abroad. She enrolled at Radcliffe College, Harvard University, in 1969 at the age of sixteen. While she initially struggled to adjust to life in the United States, she eventually described her time at Harvard as some of her happiest years.

Bhutto later studied at the University of Oxford. During her time there, she served as the President of the Oxford Union.

Career

She returned to Pakistan in 1977 during the socialist government of her father. Following a military coup and the subsequent execution of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, she and her mother took control of the PPP. They led the country's Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) despite frequent imprisonments by the military government of Zia-ul-Haq. After self-exiling to Great Britain in 1984, she returned to Pakistan in 1986. During this period, she transformed the PPP platform from a socialist ideology into a liberal one—a shift influenced by Thatcherite economics.

Bhutto led the PPP to victory in the 1988 election, becoming prime minister for her first term. Her attempts at reform faced opposition from the Pakistani military and conservative forces such as President Ghulam Ishaq Khan. In 1990, Khan dismissed her administration following accusations of nepotism and corruption. She subsequently served as the Leader of the Opposition after the following election was rigged to favor the Islamic Democratic Alliance (IJI).

After the dismissal of the IJI government, Bhutto led the PPP to victory in the 1993 elections. Her second term involved overseeing economic privatisation and advancing women's rights. However, her administration faced instability caused by a failed coup d'état in 1995 and the assassination of her brother, Murtaza. President Farooq Leghari dismissed her government following a bribery scandal involving Bhutto and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari. She entered self-exile again in 1998, living between London and Dubai for ten years.

Following negotiations brokered by the United States, she returned to Pakistan in 2007 to contest the 2008 elections. Her political platform focused on opposition to Islamist violence and civilian oversight of the military. She was assassinated in December 2007 after a political rally in Rawalpindi. The Salafi jihadist group al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack, though other theories suggested involvement by the Pakistani Taliban or intelligence elements.

Personal life

Bhutto was married to Asif Ali Zardari. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Nusrat Ispahani. Her siblings included Murtaza, Sanam, and Shahnawaz.

She was buried at her family mausoleum located in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh.

Awards and recognition

Bhutto received the Bruno Kreisky Award for Services to Human Rights. She was also honored with the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights.