Benazir Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto

Prime Minister of Pakistan

In office
19 October 1993 – 5 November 1996

Wasim Sajjad
President
Farooq Leghari

Preceded by Moeenuddin Ahmad Qureshi (Acting)

Succeeded by Malik Meraj Khalid (Acting)

In office
2 December 1988 – 6 August 1990

President Ghulam Ishaq Khan

Preceded by Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq

Succeeded by Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi (Acting)

Minister of Finance

In office
26 January 1994 – 10 October 1996

Preceded by Babar Ali (Acting)

Succeeded by Naveed Qamar

In office
4 December 1988 – 6 December 1990

Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi (Acting)

Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif

Preceded by Mahbub ul Haq

Succeeded by Sartaj Aziz

Minister of Defence

In office
4 December 1988 – 6 August 1990

Preceded by Mahmoud Haroon

Succeeded by Ghous Ali Shah

Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party

In office
12 November 1982 – 27 December 2007
Acting until 10 January 1984

Preceded by Nusrat Bhutto

Asif Ali Zardari

Succeeded by
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

21 June 1953(1953-06-21)
Born
Karachi, Pakistan
 27 December 2007 (aged 54)
Died
Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Political party Pakistan Peoples Party

Spouse(s) Asif Ali Zardari (1987–2007)

Bilawal
Children Bakhtawar
Asifa

Radcliffe College
Alma mater Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
St Catherine's College, Oxford

Religion Muslim-Shia[1][2]

Signature

Website Official website

Benazir Bhutto (Sindhi: ‫ ;بينظير ڀٽو‬Urdu: ‫بينظير بھٹو‬, pronounced [beːnəˈziːr ˈbʱʊʈːoː]; 21
June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who chaired the Pakistan Peoples
Party (PPP), a centre-left political party in Pakistan. Bhutto was the first woman elected to lead a
Muslim state,[3] having twice been Prime Minister of Pakistan (1988–1990; 1993–1996). She was
Pakistan's first and to date only female prime minister. She was the eldest child of former
Pakistani prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Nusrat Bhutto, and was the wife of current
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.
Bhutto was sworn in as Prime Minister for the first time in 1988 at the age of 35, but was
removed from office 20 months later under the order of then-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan on
grounds of alleged corruption. In 1993 she was re-elected but was again removed in 1996 on
similar charges, this time by President Farooq Leghari. She went into self-imposed exile in
Dubai in 1998.
Bhutto returned to Pakistan on 18 October 2007, after reaching an understanding with President
Pervez Musharraf by which she was granted amnesty and all corruption charges were withdrawn.
She was assassinated on 27 December 2007, after departing a PPP rally in the Pakistani city of
Rawalpindi, two weeks before the scheduled Pakistani general election of 2008 where she was a
leading opposition candidate. The following year she was named one of seven winners of the
United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights.[4]

Contents
• 1 Education and personal life
• 2 Family
 • 3 Struggle against martial law of General Zia-ul-Haq
○ 3.1 Movement for Restoration of Democracy
○ 3.2 Self-exile in London
• 4 Prime minister
○ 4.1 First term
○ 4.2 Second term
○ 4.3 Policies for women
○ 4.4 Policy on Taliban
• 5 Charges of corruption
• 6 Early 2000s in exile
• 7 2002 election
• 8 Return to Pakistan
○ 8.1 Possible deal with the Musharraf Government
○ 8.2 Return
○ 8.3 2007 State of Emergency and response
○ 8.4 Preparation for 2008 elections
• 9 Assassination
○ 9.1 Reaction in Pakistan
○ 9.2 International reaction
○ 9.3 Scotland Yard investigation
○ 9.4 UN inquiry
• 10 Allegation of giving nuclear secrets to North Korea
• 11 Legacy
• 12 Benazir Bhutto's books
• 13 See also
• 14 References
• 15 Books about Benazir Bhutto
○ 15.1 Other related publications
• 16 External links

Education and personal life

Benazir Bhutto was born at Pinto Hospital[5] in Karachi, Dominion of Pakistan on 21 June 1953.
She was the eldest child of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a Pakistani Shia Muslim
Arain of Sindhi descent, and Begum Nusrat Ispahani, a Shia Muslim Pakistani of Kurdish
descent. Her paternal grandfather was Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto.
She attended the Lady Jennings Nursery School and Convent of Jesus and Mary in Karachi.[6]
After two years of schooling at the Rawalpindi Presentation Convent, she was sent to the Jesus
and Mary Convent at Murree. She passed her O-level examinations at the age of 15.[7] She then
went on to complete her A-Levels at the Karachi Grammar School.
After completing her early education in Pakistan, she pursued her higher education in the United
States. From 1969 to 1973 she attended Radcliffe College at Harvard University, where she
obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree with cum laude honors in comparative government.[8] She
was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa.[7] Bhutto would later call her time at Harvard "four of the
happiest years of my life" and said it formed "the very basis of her belief in democracy". Later in
1995 as Prime Minister, she would arrange a gift from the Pakistani government to Harvard Law
School.[9] On June 2006, she received an Honorary LL.D degree from the University of Toronto.
[10]

The next phase of her education took place in the United Kingdom. Between 1973 and 1977
Bhutto studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, during
which time she completed additional courses in International Law and Diplomacy.[11] After LMH
she attend St Catherine's College, Oxford[12] and in December 1976 she was elected president of
the Oxford Union, becoming the first Asian woman to head the prestigious debating society.[7]
On 18 December 1987, she married Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi. The couple had three children:
two daughters, Bakhtawar and Asifa, and a son, Bilawal.
Family
Benazir Bhutto's father, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was removed from office following
a military coup in 1977 led by the then chief of army General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who
imposed martial law but promised to hold elections within three months. Nevertheless, instead of
fulfilling the promise of holding general elections, General Zia charged Mr. Bhutto with
conspiring to murder the father of dissident politician Ahmed Raza Kasuri. Mr. Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto was sentenced to death by the martial law court.
Despite the accusation being "widely doubted by the public",[13] and many clemency appeals
from foreign leaders, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged on 4 April 1979. Appeals for clemency
were dismissed by acting President General Zia. Benazir Bhutto and her mother were held in a
"police camp" until the end of May, after the execution.[14]
In 1985, Benazir Bhutto's brother Shahnawaz was killed under suspicious circumstances in
France. In 1996, the killing of her other brother, Mir Murtaza, contributed to destabilizing her
second term as Prime Minister. Murtaza, who had been outspoken in his accusations of
corruption by his sister and her husband Zardari, was gunned down just outside of his home by
police. This extrajudicial killing was almost certainly approved at the highest levels and it was
widely believed to have been instigated directly by Bhutto's husband Zardari.[15]
Struggle against martial law of General Zia-ul-Haq
After the overthrow of her father Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's government in a bloodless
coup Benazir Bhutto spent the next eighteen months in and out of house arrest as she struggled to
rally political support to force Zia to drop murder charges against her father. The military
dictator ignored worldwide appeals for clemency and had Zulfikar Bhutto hanged in April 1979.
Following the hanging of her father Bhutto was arrested repeatedly, however, following PPP's
victory in the local elections Zia postponed the national elections indefinitely and moved Bhutto
and her mother Nusrat Bhutto from Karachi to Larkana. This was seventh time Benazir had been
arrested within two years of the military coup. Repeatedly put under house arrest, the regime
finally imprisoned her under solitary confinement in a desert cell in Sindhi province during the
summer of 1981. She described the conditions in her wall-less cage in her book "Daughter of
Destiny":
"The summer heat turned my cell into an oven. My skin split and peeled, coming off my hands in
sheets. Boils erupted on my face. My hair, which had always been thick, began to come out by
the handful. Insects crept into the cell like invading armies. Grasshoppers, mosquitoes, stinging
flies, bees and bugs came up through the cracks in the floor and through the open bars from the
courtyard. Big black ants, cockroaches, seething clumps of little red ants and spiders. I tried
pulling the sheet over my head at night to hide from their bites, pushing it back when it got too
hot to breathe."
After her six month imprisonment in Sukkur jail, she remained hospitalized for months after
which she was shifted to Karachi Central Jail, where she remained imprisoned till 11 December
1981. She was then placed under house arrests in Larkana and Karachi eleven and fourteen
months respectively.
Movement for Restoration of Democracy
As restrictions on press and media were intensified and persecution of political activist increased
Bhutto realized that only way to fight Zia's regime was to unite with a section of the opposition
Pakistan National Alliance. The talks with PNA were successful and Movement for Restoration
of Democracy (MRD) was established. The movement was widely supported by people of
Pakistan and brutally repressed by the junta. The MRD included sections of Pakistani society
that were outside Zia's preview of Islamization of the country, like Shiites, ethnic minorities such
as Balochs, Pathans and Sindhis and Bhutto's own PPP. While Benazir spent most of the time
under house arrests and imprisonments the MRD movement continued its protests against the
regime. An estimated twenty thousand PPP workers were killed and between 40,000 to 150,000
people made political prisoners in crackdown by Zia.
Self-exile in London
In January 1984, after six years of house arrests and imprisonment, Zia succumbed to
international pressure and allowed Bhutto to travel abroad for medical reasons. After undergoing
a surgery she resumed her political activities and began to raise concerns about the mistreatment
of political prisoners in Pakistan at the behest of Zia regime. The intensified pressure forced Zia
into holding a referendum to give certain legitimacy to his government. The referendum held on
1 December 1984 proved a farce and due to only ten percent voter turnout despite use of state
machinery.
Further pressure from the international community forced Zia into holding elections, for a
unicameral legislature on a non-party basis. The PPP thus announced a boycott of the election on
the grounds that they were not being held in accordance with the constitution of Pakistan. She
continued to raise voice against human rights violations by the regime and addressed the
European Parliament in Strasbourg in 1985,
"When the conscience of the world is justly aroused against apartheid and against human rights
violations.. then that conscience ought not to close its eyes to the murder by military courts
which takes place in a country which receives.. aid from the West itself." The speech was
responded by the Zia regime with announcement of death sentences of 54 PPP workers in a
military court in Lahore.
Prime minister
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this section if you can. (May 2010)
First term

At left during Parliamentary session in 1998-1999. From left: Chaudhry Muhammad Barjees
Tahir, Ajmal Khattak, Aitzaz Ahsan, Benazir Bhutto.

Benazir Bhutto on a visit to Washington, D.C. in 1989

Bhutto, who had returned to Pakistan after completing her studies, found herself placed under
house arrest in the wake of her father's imprisonment and subsequent execution. Having been
allowed in 1984 to return to the United Kingdom, she became a leader in exile of the PPP, her
father's party, though she was unable to make her political presence felt in Pakistan until after the
death of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. She had succeeded her mother as leader of the PPP
and the pro-democracy opposition to the Zia-ul-Haq regime.
The seat from which Benazir contested for the post of Prime Minister, was the same one from
which her father had previously contested, namely, NA 207. This seat was first contested in 1926
by the late Sardar Wahid Bux Bhutto, in the first ever elections in Sindh. The elections were for
the Central Legislative Assembly of India. Sardar Wahid Bux won, and became not only the first
elected representative from Sindh to a democratically elected parliament, but also the youngest
member of the Central Legislative Assembly, aged 27. Wahid Bux's achievement was
monumental as it was he who was the first Bhutto elected to a government, from a seat which
would, thereafter always be contested by his family members. Therefore, it was he who provided
the breakthrough and a start to this cycle. Sardar Wahid Bux went on to be elected to the
Bombay Council as well. After Wahid Bux's untimely and mysterious death at the age of 33, his
younger brother Nawab Nabi Bux Bhutto contested from the same seat and remained undefeated
until retirement. It was he who then gave this seat to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to contest.[clarification needed]
On 16 November 1988, in the first open election in more than a decade, Bhutto's PPP won the
largest bloc of seats in the National Assembly. Bhutto was sworn in as Prime Minister of a
coalition government on December 2, becoming at age 35 the youngest person—and the first
woman—to head the government of a Muslim-majority state in modern times. In 1989, Benazir
was awarded the Prize For Freedom by the Liberal International. Bhutto's accomplishments
during this time were in initiatives for nationalist reform and modernization, that some
conservatives characterized as Westernization.
Bhutto's government was dismissed in 1990 following charges of corruption, for which she was
never tried. Zia's protégé Nawaz Sharif came to power after the October 1990 elections. She
served as leader of the opposition while Sharif served as Prime Minister for the next three years.
Second term
In October 1993 elections were held again and her PPP coalition was victorious, her to continue
her reform initiatives. According to journalist Shyam Bhatia, Bhutto smuggled CDs containing
uranium enrichment data to North Korea on a state visit that same year in return for data on
missile technology.[16] In 1996, amidst various corruption scandals Bhutto was dismissed by
then-president Farooq Leghari, who used the Eighth Amendment discretionary powers to
dissolve the government. The Supreme Court affirmed President Leghari's dismissal in a 6-1
ruling.[17] Criticism against Bhutto came from the Punjabi elites and powerful landlord families
who opposed Bhutto. She blamed this opposition for the destabilization of Pakistan. Musharraf
characterized Bhutto's terms as an "era of sham democracy" and others characterized her terms a
period of corrupt, failed governments.[18]
Policies for women
During the election campaigns the Bhutto government voiced its concern for women's social and
health issues, including the issue of discrimination against women. Bhutto announced plans to
establish women's police stations, courts, and women's development banks. Despite these plans,
Bhutto did not propose any legislation to improve welfare services for women. During her
election campaigns, she promised to repeal controversial laws (such as Hudood and Zina
ordinances) that curtail the rights of women in Pakistan.[19] Bhutto was pro-life and spoke
forcefully against abortion, most notably at the International Conference on Population and
Development in Cairo, where she accused the West of "seeking to impose adultery, abortion,
intercourse education and other such matters on individuals, societies and religions which have
their own social ethos."[20]
The Zina ordinance was finally repealed by a Presidential Ordinance issued by Pervez Musharraf
in July 2006.[21]
Bhutto was an active and founding member of the Council of Women World Leaders, a network
of current and former prime ministers and presidents.[22]
Policy on Taliban
The Taliban took power in Kabul in September 1996. It was during Bhutto's rule that the Taliban
gained prominence in Afghanistan.[23] She, like many leaders at the time, viewed the Taliban as a
group that could stabilize Afghanistan and enable trade access to the Central Asian republics,
according to author Stephen Coll.[24] He claims that like the United States, her government
provided military and financial support for the Taliban, even sending a small unit of the Pakistani
army into Afghanistan.
More recently, she took an anti-Taliban stance, and condemned terrorist acts allegedly
committed by the Taliban and their supporters.[25]
Charges of corruption
Main article: Corruption charges against Benazir Bhutto
After the dismissal of Bhutto's first government on August 6, 1990 by President Ghulam Ishaq
Khan on the grounds of corruption government of Pakistan issued directives to its intelligence
agencies to investigate the allegations. After fourth national elections, Nawaz Sharif became the
Prime Minister and intensified prosecution proceedings against Bhutto. Pakistani embassies
through western Europe, in France, Switzerland, Spain, Poland and Britain were directed to
investigate the matter. Bhutto and her husband faced a number of legal proceedings, including a
charge of laundering money through Swiss banks. Though never convicted, her husband, Asif
Ali Zardari, spent eight years in prison on similar corruption charges. After being released on
bail in 2004, Zardari suggested that his time in prison involved torture; human rights groups have
supported his claim that his rights were violated.[26]
A 1998 New York Times investigative report[27] claims that Pakistani investigators have
documents that uncover a network of bank accounts, all linked to the family's lawyer in
Switzerland, with Asif Zardari as the principal shareholder. According to the article, documents
released by the French authorities indicated that Zardari offered exclusive rights to Dassault, a
French aircraft manufacturer, to replace the air force's fighter jets in exchange for a 5%
commission to be paid to a Swiss corporation controlled by Zardari. The article also said a Dubai
company received an exclusive license to import gold into Pakistan for which Asif Zardari
received payments of more than $10 million into his Dubai-based Citibank accounts. The owner
of the company denied that he had made payments to Zardari and claims the documents were
forged.
Bhutto maintained that the charges levelled against her and her husband were purely political.[28]
[29]
An Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) report supports Bhutto's claim. It presents information
suggesting that Benazir Bhutto was ousted from power in 1990 as a result of a witch hunt
approved by then-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan. The AGP report says Khan illegally paid legal
advisers 28 million rupees to file 19 corruption cases against Bhutto and her husband in 1990–
92.[30]
Yet the assets held by Bhutto and her husband continue to be scrutinized and speculated about.
The prosecutors have alleged that their Swiss bank accounts contain £740 million. [31] Zardari also
bought a neo-Tudor mansion and estate worth over £4 million in Surrey, England, UK.[32][33] The
Pakistani investigations have tied other overseas properties to Zardari's family. These include a
$2.5 million manor in Normandy owned by Zardari's parents, who had modest assets at the time
of his marriage.[27] Bhutto denied holding substantive overseas assets.
Despite numerous cases and charges of corruption registered against Bhutto by Nawaz Sharif
between 1996–1999 and Pervez Musharraf from 1999 till 2008, she was yet to be convicted in
any case after a lapse of twelve years since their commencement. The cases were withdrawn by
the government of Pakistan after the return to power of Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party in 2008.
Early 2000s in exile
In 2002, Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf amended Pakistan's constitution to ban prime
ministers from serving more than two terms. This disqualified Bhutto from ever holding the
office again. This move was widely considered to be a direct attack on former prime ministers
Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. On 3 August 2003, Bhutto became a member of Minhaj ul
Quran International (an international Muslim educational and welfare organization).[34][35][36]
While living in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, she cared for her three children and her mother
Nusrat, who was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, traveling to give lectures and keeping in
touch with the PPP's supporters. They were reunited with her husband in December 2004 after
more than five years.[37][38][39][40] In 2006, Interpol issued a request for the arrest of Bhutto and her
husband on corruption charges, at the request of Pakistan. The Bhuttos questioned the legality of
the requests in a letter to Interpol. [41] On 27 January 2007, she was invited by the United States to
speak to President George W. Bush and Congressional and State Department officials.[42] Bhutto
appeared as a panellist on the BBC TV programme Question Time in the UK in March 2007. She
has also appeared on BBC current affairs programme Newsnight on several occasions. She
rebuffed comments made by Muhammad Ijaz-ul-Haq in May 2007 regarding the knighthood of
Salman Rushdie, citing that he was calling for the assassination of foreign citizens.[43][44][45]
Bhutto had declared her intention to return to Pakistan within 2007, which she did, in spite of
Musharraf's statements of May 2007 about not allowing her to return ahead of the country's
general election, due late 2007 or early 2008. It was speculated that she may have been offered
the office of Prime Minister again.[46][47][48]
Arthur Herman, a U.S. historian, in a controversial letter published in The Wall Street Journal on
14 June 2007, in response to an article by Bhutto highly critical of the president and his policies,
described her as "One of the most incompetent leaders in the history of South Asia," and asserted
that she and other elites in Pakistan hate Musharraf because he was a muhajir, the son of one of
millions of Indian Muslims who fled to Pakistan during independence in 1947. Herman claimed,
"Although it was muhajirs who agitated for the creation of Pakistan in the first place, many
native Pakistanis view them with contempt and treat them as third-class citizens."[49][50][51]
Nonetheless, by mid-2007, the U.S. appeared to be pushing for a deal in which Musharraf would
remain as president but step down as military head, and either Bhutto or one of her nominees
would become prime minister.[48]
On 11 July 2007, the Associated Press, in an article about the possible aftermath of the Red
Mosque incident, wrote:
Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister and opposition leader expected by
many to return from exile and join Musharraf in a power-sharing deal after year-
end general elections, praised him for taking a tough line on the Red Mosque.
"I'm glad there was no cease-fire with the militants in the mosque because cease-
fires simply embolden the militants," she told Britain's Sky TV on Tuesday.
"There will be a backlash, but at some time we have to stop appeasing the
militants."[52]
This remark about the Red Mosque was seen with dismay in Pakistan as reportedly hundreds of
young students were burned to death and remains are untraceable and cases are being heard in
Pakistani supreme court as a missing persons issue. This and subsequent support for Musharraf
led Elder Bhutto's comrades like Khar to criticize her publicly.[citation needed]
Bhutto however advised Musharraf in an early phase of the latter's quarrel with the Chief Justice,
to restore him. Her PPP did not capitalize on its CEC member, Aitzaz Ahsan, the chief Barrister
for the Chief Justice, in successful restoration. Rather he was seen as a rival and was isolated.
2002 election
The Bhutto-led PPP secured the highest number of votes (28.42%) and eighty seats (23.16%) in
the national assembly in the October 2002 general elections.[53] Pakistan Muslim League (N)
(PML-N) managed to win eighteen seats only. Some of the elected candidates of PPP formed a
faction of their own, calling it PPP-Patriots which was being led by Faisal Saleh Hayat, the
former leader of Bhutto-led PPP. They later formed a coalition government with Musharraf's
party, PML-Q.
Return to Pakistan
Possible deal with the Musharraf Government

Benazir Bhutto's image

In mid-2002 Musharraf implemented a two-term limit on Prime Ministers. Both Bhutto and
Musharraf's other chief rival, Nawaz Sharif, have already served two terms as Prime Minister. [54]
Musharraf's allies in parliament, especially the PMLQ, are unlikely to reverse the changes to
allow Prime Ministers to seek third terms, nor to make particular exceptions for either Bhutto or
Sharif.
In July 2007, some of Bhutto's frozen funds were released.[55] Bhutto continued to face
significant charges of corruption. In an 8 August 2007 interview with the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation, Bhutto revealed the meeting focused on her desire to return to Pakistan for the 2008
elections, and of Musharraf retaining the Presidency with Bhutto as Prime Minister. On 29
August 2007, Bhutto announced that Musharraf would step down as chief of the army.[56][57] On
September 1, 2007, Bhutto vowed to return to Pakistan "very soon", regardless of whether or not
she reached a power-sharing deal with Musharraf before then.[58]
On September 17, 2007, Bhutto accused Musharraf's allies of pushing Pakistan into crisis by
their refusal to permit democratic reforms and power-sharing. A nine-member panel of Supreme
Court judges deliberated on six petitions (including one from Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's largest
Islamic group) asserting that Musharraf be disqualified from contending for the presidency of
Pakistan. Bhutto stated that her party could join one of the opposition groups, potentially that of
Nawaz Sharif. Attorney-general Malik Mohammed Qayyum stated that, pendente lite, the
Election Commission was "reluctant" to announce the schedule for the presidential vote.
Bhutto's party's Farhatullah Babar stated that the Constitution of Pakistan could bar Musharraf
from being elected again because he was already chief of the army: "As Gen. Musharraf was
disqualified from contesting for President, he has prevailed upon the Election Commission to
arbitrarily and illegally tamper with the Constitution of Pakistan."[59]
Musharraf prepared to switch to a strictly civilian role by resigning from his position as
commander-in-chief of the armed forces. He still faced other legal obstacles to running for re-
election. On 2 October 2007, Gen. Musharraf named Lt. Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, as vice chief of the
army starting October 8 with the intent that if Musharraf won the presidency and resigned his
military post, Kayani would become chief of the army. Meanwhile, Minister Sheikh Rashid
Ahmed stated that officials agreed to grant Benazir Bhutto amnesty versus pending corruption
charges. She has emphasized the smooth transition and return to civilian rule and has asked
Pervez Musharraf to shed uniform.[60] On 5 October 2007, Musharraf signed the National
Reconciliation Ordinance, giving amnesty to Bhutto and other political leaders—except exiled
former premier Nawaz Sharif—in all court cases against them, including all corruption charges.
The Ordinance came a day before Musharraf faced the crucial presidential poll. Both Bhutto's
opposition party, the PPP, and the ruling PMLQ, were involved in negotiations beforehand about
the deal.[61] In return, Bhutto and the PPP agreed not to boycott the Presidential election.[62] On 6
October 2007, Musharraf won a parliamentary election for President. However, the Supreme
Court ruled that no winner can be officially proclaimed until it finishes deciding on whether it
was legal for Musharraf to run for President while remaining Army General. Bhutto's PPP party
did not join the other opposition parties' boycott of the election, but did abstain from voting. [63]
Later, Bhutto demanded security coverage on-par with the President's. Bhutto also contracted
foreign security firms for her protection.
Return

While under house arrest, Benazir Bhutto speaks to supporters outside her house.
Bhutto was well aware of the risk to her own life that might result from her return from exile to
campaign for the leadership position. In an interview on September 28, 2007, with reporter Wolf
Blitzer of CNN, she readily admitted the possibility of attack on herself.[64]
After eight years in exile in Dubai and London, Bhutto returned to Karachi on 18 October 2007,
to prepare for the 2008 national elections.[65][66][67][68]
En route to a rally in Karachi on 18 October 2007, two explosions occurred shortly after Bhutto
had landed and left Jinnah International Airport. She was not injured but the explosions, later
found to be a suicide-bomb attack, killed 136 people and injured at least 450. The dead included
at least 50 of the security guards from her PPP who had formed a human chain around her truck
to keep potential bombers away, as well as six police officers. A number of senior officials were
injured. Bhutto, after nearly ten hours of the parade through Karachi, ducked back down into the
steel command center to remove her sandals from her swollen feet, moments before the bomb
went off.[69] She was escorted unharmed from the scene.[70]
Bhutto later claimed that she had warned the Pakistani government that suicide bomb squads
would target her upon her return to Pakistan and that the government had failed to act. She was
careful not to blame Pervez Musharraf for the attacks, accusing instead "certain individuals
within the government who abuse their positions, who abuse their powers" to advance the cause
of Islamic militants. Shortly after the attempt on her life, Bhutto wrote a letter to Musharraf
naming four persons whom she suspected of carrying out the attack. Those named included
Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, a rival PML-Q politician and chief minister of Pakistan's Punjab
province, Hamid Gul, former director of the Inter-Services Intelligence, and Ijaz Shah, the
director general of the Intelligence Bureau, another of the country's intelligence agencies. All
those named are close associates of General Musharraf. Bhutto has a long history of accusing
parts of the government, particularly Pakistan's premier military intelligence agencies, of
working against her and her party because they oppose her liberal, secular agenda. Bhutto
claimed that the ISI has for decades backed militant Islamic groups in Kashmir and in
Afghanistan.[70] She was protected by her vehicle and a "human cordon" of supporters who had
anticipated suicide attacks and formed a chain around her to prevent potential bombers from
getting near her. The total number of injured, according to PPP sources, stood at 1000, with at
least 160 dead (The New York Times claims 134 dead and about 450 injured).
A few days later, Bhutto's lawyer Senator Farooq H. Naik said he received a letter threatening to
kill his client.
2007 State of Emergency and response
Main article: 2007 Pakistani state of emergency
On 3 November 2007, President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency, citing actions
by the Supreme Court of Pakistan and religious extremism in the nation. Bhutto returned to the
country, interrupting a visit to family in Dubai. She was greeted by supporters chanting slogans
at the airport. After staying in her plane for several hours she was driven to her home in Lahore,
accompanied by hundreds of supporters. While acknowledging that Pakistan faced a political
crisis, she noted that Musharraf's declaration of emergency, unless lifted, would make it very
difficult to have fair elections. She commented that "The extremists need a dictatorship, and
dictatorship needs extremists."[71][72][73]
Wikinews has related news: Pakistan lifts house arrest of former PM Benazir Bhutto
On 8 November 2007, Bhutto was placed under house arrest just a few hours before she was due
to lead and address a rally against the state of emergency.
During a telephone interview with National Public Radio in the United States, Ms. Bhutto said "I
have freedom of movement within the house. I do not have freedom of movement outside the
house. They've got a heavy police force inside the house, and we've got a very heavy police force
- 4,000 policemen around the four walls of my house, 1,000 on each. They've even entered the
neighbors' house. And I was just telling one of the policemen, I said 'should you be here after us?
Should not you be looking for Osama bin Laden?' And he said, 'I'm sorry, ma'am, this is our job.
We're just doing what we are told.'"[74]
The following day, the Pakistani government announced that Bhutto's arrest warrant had been
withdrawn and that she would be free to travel and to appear at public rallies. However, leaders
of other opposition political parties remained prohibited from speaking in public.
Preparation for 2008 elections
On 2 November 2007, Bhutto participated in an interview with David Frost on Al Jazeera where
she claimed Osama Bin Laden had been murdered by Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who is also
one of the men convicted of kidnapping and killing U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl. Frost never
asked a follow up question regarding the claim that Bin Laden was dead.[75][dead link]
On 24 November 2007, Bhutto filed her nomination papers for January's Parliamentary elections;
two days later, she filed papers in the Larkana constituency for two regular seats. She did so as
former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, following seven years of exile in Saudi Arabia,
made his much-contested return to Pakistan and bid for candidacy.[76]
When sworn in again on 30 November 2007, this time as a civilian president after relinquishing
his post as military chief, Musharraf announced his plan to lift the Pakistan's state of emergency
rule on December 16. Bhutto welcomed the announcement and launched a manifesto outlining
her party's domestic issues. Bhutto told journalists in Islamabad that her party, the PPP, would
focus on "the five E's": employment, education, energy, environment, equality.[77][78]
On 4 December 2007, Bhutto met with Nawaz Sharif to publicize their demand that Musharraf
fulfill his promise to lift the state of emergency before January's parliamentary elections,
threatening to boycott the vote if he failed to comply. They promised to assemble a committee
which would present to Musharraf the list of demands upon which their participation in the
election was contingent.[79][80]
On 8 December 2007, three unidentified gunmen stormed Bhutto's PPP office in the southern
western province of Baluchistan. Three of Bhutto's supporters were killed.[81]
Assassination
This section may be too long to read and navigate comfortably. Please consider moving
more of the content into sub-articles and using this article for a summary of the key points of
the subject. (April 2010)
Main article: Assassination of Benazir Bhutto
Wikinews has related news: Benazir Bhutto killed in suicide attack
Building destroyed by rioting
On 27 December 2007, Bhutto was killed while leaving a campaign rally for the PPP at Liaquat
National Bagh, where she had given a spirited address to party supporters in the run-up to the
January 2008 parliamentary elections. After entering her bulletproof vehicle, Bhutto stood up
through its sunroof to wave to the crowds. At this point, a gunman fired shots at her and
subsequently explosives were detonated near the vehicle killing approximately 20 people.[82]
Bhutto was critically wounded and was rushed to Rawalpindi General Hospital. She was taken
into surgery at 17:35 local time, and pronounced dead at 18:16.[83][84][85]
Bhutto's body was flown to her hometown of Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in Larkana District, Sindh,
and was buried next to her father in the family mausoleum at a ceremony attended by hundreds
of thousands of mourners.[86][87][88]
There was some disagreement about the exact cause of death. Bhutto's husband refused to permit
an autopsy or post-mortem examination to be carried out.[89] On 28 December 2007, the Interior
Ministry of Pakistan stated that "Bhutto was killed when she tried to duck back into the vehicle,
and the shock waves from the blast knocked her head into a lever attached to the sunroof,
fracturing her skull".[90] However, a hospital spokesman stated earlier that she had suffered
shrapnel wounds to the head and that this was the cause of her death.[91][92] Bhutto's aides have
also disputed the Interior Ministry's account.[93] On December 31, CNN posted the alleged
emergency room admission report as a PDF file. The document appears to have been signed by
all the admitting physicians and notes that no object was found inside the wound.[94]
Al-Qaeda commander Mustafa Abu al-Yazid claimed responsibility for the attack, describing
Bhutto as "the most precious American asset."[95] The Pakistani government also stated that it had
proof that al-Qaeda was behind the assassination. A report for CNN stated: "the Interior Ministry
also earlier told Pakistan's Geo TV that the suicide bomber belonged to Lashkar i Jhangvi—an
al-Qaeda-linked militant group that the government has blamed for hundreds of killings".[96] The
government of Pakistan claimed Baitullah Mehsud was the mastermind behind the assassination.
[97]
Lashkar i Jhangvi, a Wahabi Muslim extremist organization affiliated with al-Qaeda that also
attempted in 1999 to assassinate former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, is alleged to have been
responsible for the killing of the 54-year-old Bhutto along with approximately 20 bystanders,
however this is vigorously disputed by the Bhutto family, by the PPP that Bhutto had headed and
by Baitullah Mehsud.[98] On 3 January 2008, President Musharraf officially denied participating
in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto as well as failing to provide her proper security.[99]
Reaction in Pakistan
After the assassination, there were initially a number of riots resulting in approximately 20
deaths, of which three were of police officers. Around 250 cars were burnt; angry and upset
supporters of Bhutto threw rocks outside the hospital where she was being held. [87] Through
December 29, 2007, the Pakistani government said rioters had wrecked nine election offices, 176
banks, 34 gas stations, 72 train cars, 18 rail stations, and hundreds of cars and shops. [100]
President Musharraf decreed a three-day period of mourning.
On 30 December 2007, at a news conference following a meeting of the PPP leadership, Bhutto's
widower Asif Ali Zardari and son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari announced that 19-year-old Bilawal
will succeed his mother as titular head of the party, with his father effectively running the party
until his son completes his studies at Christ Church, Oxford. "When I return, I promise to lead
the party as my mother wanted me to," Bilawal said. The PPP called for parliamentary elections
to take place as scheduled on 8 January 2008, and Asif Ali Zardari said that vice-chair
Makhdoom Amin Fahim would probably be the party's candidate for prime minister. (Bilawal is
not of legal age to stand for parliament.)[101]
On December 30, Bhutto's political party, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), called for the UK
Government and the United Nations to help conduct the investigation of her death.[102] Bilawal
Bhutto Zardari has been appointed chairman of his late mother's opposition political party in
Pakistan. Bilawal is only 19 years old.[103] On 5 February 2008, the PPP released Mrs. Bhutto's
political will which she wrote two weeks before returning to Pakistan and only 12 weeks before
she was killed, stating that her husband Asif Ali Zardari would be the leader of the party, until a
new leader is elected.
International reaction
Main article: International reaction to the Benazir Bhutto assassination
The international reaction to Bhutto's assassination was of strong condemnation across the
international community. The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting and unanimously
condemned the assassination.[104] Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa stated that, "We
condemn this assassination and terrorist act, and pray for God Almighty to bless her soul." [105]
India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was "deeply shocked and horrified to hear of the
heinous assassination of Mrs. Benazir Bhutto. ... My heartfelt condolences go to her family and
the people of Pakistan who have suffered a grievous blow." [106] British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown stated, "Benazir Bhutto may have been killed by terrorists but the terrorists must not be
allowed to kill democracy in Pakistan and this atrocity strengthens our resolve that terrorists will
not win there, here or anywhere in the world."[107] European Commission President José Manuel
Barroso condemned the assassination as "an attack against democracy and against Pakistan," and
"hopes that Pakistan will remain firmly on track for return to democratic civilian rule."[107] US
President George W. Bush condemned the assassination as a "cowardly act by murderous
extremists," and encouraged Pakistan to "honor Benazir Bhutto's memory by continuing with the
democratic process for which she so bravely gave her life."[108] Vatican Secretary of State
Tarcisio Bertone expressed the sadness of Pope Benedict XVI, saying that "the Holy Father
expresses sentiments of deep sympathy and spiritual closeness to the members of her family and
to the entire Pakistani nation."[107] Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Qin Gang said that
China was "shocked at the killing of Pakistan's opposition leader Benazir Bhutto" and "strongly
condemns the terrorist attack."[109][110][111]
Scotland Yard investigation
British detectives were asked by the Pakistan Government to investigate the assassination.
Although expressing reservations as to the difficulty in investigating due to the crime scene
having been hosed down and Asif Zardari refusing permission for a post mortem, they
announced on 8 February 2008 that Benazir Bhutto had been killed on impact by the knob of the
sun roof following the bomb explosion.
UN inquiry
A formal investigation by the UN commenced on July 1, 2009.[112]
Allegation of giving nuclear secrets to North Korea
This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and
removed. (October 2009)
B. Bhutto was one of the key political figures of Pakistan's Nuclear Program. Bhutto maintained
close and friendly relationships with many prominent Pakistan's nuclear scientists. Benazir
Bhutto also carried messages to Munir Ahmad Khan from her father and back in 1979 as Prime
Minister Z.A. Bhutto had instructed her daughter to remain in touch with the Chairman of PAEC.
Shyam Bhatia, an Indian journalist, alleged in his book Goodbye Shahzadi that in 1993, Bhutto
had downloaded secretive information on uranium enrichment to give to North Korea in
exchange for information on developing ballistic missiles. Bhatia alleges that Bhutto had asked
him to not tell the story during her lifetime. Nuclear expert David Albright of the Institute of
Science and International Security said the allegations "made sense" given the timeline of North
Korea's nuclear development. George Perkovich of the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace called Bhatia a "smart and serious guy." Selig Harrison of the Center for International
Policy called Bhatia "credible on Bhutto". The Pakistani Embassy in Washington, D.C. denied
the claims and an United States official dismissed them, insisting that Abdul Qadeer Khan, who
had been accused of proliferating secrets before to North Korea (only to later deny them prior to
Bhatia's book), was the source.[113]
Even when Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan's nuclear scandal came into public, Bhutto vowed that if she
elected for Prime Minister of Pakistan as a third time she would allowed IAEA inspectors to
investigate Dr. Khan. However, when her statement on-aired on Pakistani televisions, Bhutto
faced a strong criticism from Pakistani civil society as well as strong response in her own party.
A few hours later, she reverted her statement, her spokesperson Nahid Khan said that her
statement was misunderstood.
Legacy
Commenting on her legacy, the acclaimed south Asia expert William Dalrymple commented that
"It's wrong for the West simply to mourn Benazir Bhutto as a martyred democrat since her
legacy was far murkier and more complex".[114]
The Pakistani government honoured Bhutto on her birth anniversary by renaming the Islamabad
International Airport as Benazir Bhutto International Airport after her. Prime Minister Yousaf
Raza Gillani, a member of Bhutto's PPP also asked President Pervez Musharraf to pardon
convicts on death row on her birthday in honour of Bhutto.[115]
The city of Nawabshah in Sindh was renamed Benazirabad in her honor. A university in the Dir
Upper district of NWFP is opened in her name.
Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), a program which provides benefits to the poorest
Pakistanis, is named after Bhutto.[116]
Benazir Bhutto's books
• Benazir Bhutto, (1983), Pakistan: The gathering storm, Vikas Pub. House, ISBN
0706924959
• Benazir Bhutto (1989). Daughter of the East. Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 0-241-12398-4.
Daughter of the East was also released as:
• Benazir Bhutto (1989). Daughter of Destiny: An Autobiography. Simon & Schuster.
ISBN 0-671-66983-4.
At the time of Bhutto's death, the manuscript for her third book, to be called Reconciliation:
Islam, Democracy and the West, had been received by HarperCollins. The book, written with
Mark Siegel, was published in February 2008.[117]
• Benazir Bhutto (2008). Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West. HarperCollins.
ISBN 978-0-06-156758-2.
See also
• Politics of Pakistan
• Asif Ali Zardari
• Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
• Benazirabad
• International reaction to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto
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110.^ Life in Pictures, BBC, Last updated: Thursday, 27 December 2007, 14:53 GMT
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113.^ NTI: Global Security Newswire - Monday, June 2, 2008
114.^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/dec/30/pakistan.world Pakistan's flawed and
feudal prinecss
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117.^ Bhutto's book primed. HarperCollins rushes manuscript into print December 28, 2007
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Books about Benazir Bhutto
• W.F.Pepper, (1983), Benazir Bhutto, WF Pepper, ISBN 0946781001
• Rafiq Zakaria (1990). The Trial of Benazir. Sangam Books. ISBN 0-861-32265-7.
• Katherine M. Doherty, Caraig A. Doherty , (1990), Benazir Bhutto (Impact Biographies
Series), Franklin Watts, ISBN 0531109364
• Rafiq Zakaria, (1991), The Trial of Benazir Bhutto: An Insight into the Status of Women
in Islam, Eureka Pubns, ISBN 9679783200
• Diane Sansevere-Dreher, (1991), Benazir Bhutto (Changing Our World Series), Bantam
Books (Mm), ISBN 0553158570
• Christina Lamb, (1992), Waiting for Allah, Penguin Books Ltd, ISBN 0140143343
• M. Fathers, (1992), Biography of Benazir Bhutto, W.H. Allen / Virgin Books, ISBN
024554965X
• Elizabeth Bouchard, (1994), Benazir Bhutto: Prime Minister (Library of Famous
Women), Blackbirch Pr Inc, ISBN 1567110274
• Iqbal Akhund, (2000), Trial and Error: The Advent and Eclipse of Benazir Bhutto, OUP
Pakistan, ISBN 0195791606
• Libby Hughes, (2000), Benazir Bhutto: From Prison to Prime Minister,
Backinprint.Com, ISBN 0595003885
• Iqbal Akhund, (2002), Benazir Hukoomat: Phela Daur, Kia Khoya, Kia Paya?, OUP
Pakistan, ISBN 0195794214
• Mercedes Anderson, (2004), Benazir Bhutto (Women in Politics), Chelsea House
Publishers, ISBN 0791077322
 • Mary Englar, (2007), Benazir Bhutto: Pakistani Prime Minister and Activist, Compass
Point Books, ISBN 0756517982
• Ayesha Siddiqa, (2007), Military Inc.: Inside Pakistan's Military Economy, Pluto Press,
ISBN 0745325459
• Benazir Bhutto Selected Speeches 1989-2007, 600 Pages
• Articles written to pay tribute to Benazir Bhutto; Sani Panhwar, (2010) 247 Pages
Other related publications
• Abdullah Malik, (1988), Bhutto se Benazir tak: Siyasi tajziye, Maktabah-yi Fikr o
Danish, ASIN B0000CRQJH
• Bashir Riaz, (2000), Blind justice, Fiction House, ASIN B0000CPHP8
• Khatm-i Nabuvat, ASIN B0000CRQ4A
• Mujahid Husain, (1999), Kaun bara bad °unvan: Benazir aur Navaz Sharif ki bad
°unvaniyon par tahqiqati dastavez, Print La'in Pablisharz, ASIN B0000CRPC3
• Ahmad Ejaz, (1993), Benazir Bhutto's foreign policy: A study of Pakistan's relations with
major powers, Classic, ASIN B0000CQV0Y
• Lubna Rafique, (1994), Benazir & British Press, 1986-1990, Gautam, ASIN
B0000CP41S
• Sayyid Afzal Haidar, (1996), Bhutto trial, National Commission on History & Culture,
ASIN B0000CPBFX
• Mumtaz Husain Bazmi, (1996), Zindanon se aivanon tak, al-Hamd Pablikeshanz, ASIN
B0000CRPOT
• Unknown author, (1996), Napak sazish: Tauhin-i risalat ki saza ko khatm karne ka
benazir sarkari mansubah, Intarnaishnal Institiyut af Tahaffuz-i
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Benazir Bhutto

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Benazir Bhutto

Wikinews has related news: Benazir Bhutto

• Benazir Bhutto official website
• Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Official website of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
• Benazir Bhutto at the Open Directory Project
• The death of Benazir Bhutto from BBC News
• Returning to Benazir (2008) from Dawn (Pakistan)
• Bhutto's deadly legacy from the International Herald Tribune
 • Life in Pictures 1953–2007, Inside Bhutto's 'Prison' Photo Essay and The Aftermath of an
Assassination from Time
• Photo Diary of Benazir Bhutto from AOL
• Benzir Bhutto New York Times topic
• Benazir Bhutto CNN topic
• Benazir Bhutto 3-part interview on Indian Television
• The assassination of Benazir Bhutto - responses at The Immanent Frame, a blog hosted
by the Social Science Research Council
• Fatima Bhutto discusses Benazir Bhutto's legacy in a podcast by the International
Museum of Women
• Benazir Bhutto at Find a Grave
• Remembering Benazir Bhutto from Daily News (Sri Lanka) December 27, 2008
• Pakistan remembers Benazir Bhutto In Pics from Arabian Business
• Or Zanjeer Toot Gaie Collection of Articles, Columns, and Essays on the Life and Death
of Benazir Bhutto Shaheed]
Dated
• The Political Situation in Pakistan (audio) - Benazir Bhutto on Capitol Hill in September
2007
• News & Videos about Benazir Bhutto CNN, 2007
• Timeline shows conflicting reports on cause of Bhutto's death, 2007
• In pictures: Bhutto laid to rest, BBC News, 28 December 2007
• Life in pictures: Benazir Bhutto, BBC News, 27 December 2007
• Bhutto murder: the key questions 31 December 2007
• Medical report of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, Washington Post (December 27, 2007)
• Facts on Pakistan's ex-PM Benazir Bhutto 31 December 2007

Political offices

Preceded by Prime Minister of Pakistan Succeeded by

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq 1988–1990 Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi
Acting

Preceded by Minister of Finance Succeeded by

Mahbub ul Haq 1988–1990 Sartaj Aziz

Preceded by Minister of Defence Succeeded by

Mahmoud Haroon 1988–1990 Ghous Ali Shah

Preceded by Prime Minister of Pakistan Succeeded by

Moeenuddin Ahmad 1993–1996 Malik Meraj Khalid
Qureshi Acting
Acting

Preceded by Minister of Finance Succeeded by

Babar Ali 1994–1996 Naveed Qamar

Party political offices

Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Succeeded by

Preceded by Party Asif Ali Zardari
Nusrat Bhutto Acting from 1982–1984
1982–2007 Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
 Benazir Bhutto [Born 1953]
Benazir Bhutto, the eldest child of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was born on June 21, 1953, at Karachi. She attended
Lady Jennings Nursery School and then Convent of Jesus and Mary in Karachi. After two years of schooling
at the Rawalpindi Presentation Convent, she was sent to the Jesus and Mary Convent at Murree. She passed
her O-level examination at the age of 15. In April 1969, she got admission in the U. S. at Harvard
University's Radcliffe College. In June 1973, Benazir graduated from Harvard University with a degree in
Political Science. After graduating from Harvard, Benazir joined Oxford University in the fall of 1973. Just
before graduation, Benazir was elected to the Standing Committee of the most prestigious Oxford Union
Debating Society.
In 1976, she graduated in P. P. E. (Politics, Philosophy and Economics). In the autumn of 1976, Benazir
returned once again to Oxford to do a one-year postgraduate course. In January 1977, she was elected the
President of the Oxford Union. Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan in June 1977. She wanted to join the
Foreign Service but her father wanted her to contest the Assembly election. As she was not yet of age,
Benazir Bhutto assisted her father as an advisor.
January 1984, after spending nearly six and a half years in jail. She went into exile in England for two years.
In July 1984, her younger brother Shah Nawaz died under mysterious circumstances in Paris. She came
back to Pakistan to attend his burial ceremony. A year later she came back to Pakistan to fight the elections
for National and Provincial Assemblies held by General Zia-ul-Haq. When she returned on April 10, 1986,
one million people welcomed her at the Lahore airport. She attended mammoth rallies all over Pakistan and
kept in close touch with the Movement for Restoration of Democracy. On December 18, 1987, Benazir
married Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi. She contested the elections, which were held by Ghulam Ishaq Khan,
who had taken over as acting President after the death of General Zia in an air crash on August 17, 1988, at
Bhawalpur.
Benazir Bhutto approached the Supreme Court of Pakistan, seeking enforcement of the fundamental rights
guaranteed to the political parties under Article 17(2) of the 1973 Constitution, to hold the elections on
Party basis. The Supreme Court gave its verdict in favor of the political parties. The P. P. P., without forming
an alliance with any party, won 94 out of 207 seats in the National Assembly. With the cooperation of eight
M. Q. M. members and 13 members of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the P. P. P. was able to get a
clear majority in the National Assemblies. Benazir Bhutto was nominated as the Prime Minister on December
2, 1988, and Ghulam Ishaq Khan was nominated the President of Pakistan.
At the age of 35, she was the youngest and the first woman Prime Minister to lead a Muslim nation in
modern age. During her first term, she started Peoples Program for economic uplift of the masses. Benazir
Bhutto also lifted a ban on student and trade unions. The P. P. P. Government hosted the fourth S. A. A. R.
C. Summit held in Islamabad, in December 1988.
On various issues, differences between her Government and the Establishment led to her dismissal by the
President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, on August 6, 1990.
Benazir returned to power, by winning the October 1993 elections. The P. P. P. had won the largest share
with 86 seats and formed a new Government with the help of alliances, but her own-nominated President,
Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari, dismissed her government again in November 1996 on corruption charges.
Her publications include "Daughter of the East" and "Foreign Policy Perspective".

Former Prime Minister of Pakistan

Print Biography
Benazir Bhutto Date of birth: June 21, 1953
Date of death: December 27, 2007

Benazir Bhutto was born in Karachi, Pakistan to a prominent political family. At age 16 she left her
homeland to study at Harvard's Radcliffe College. After completing her undergraduate degree at Radcliffe
she studied at England's Oxford University, where she was awarded a second degree in 1977.
Later that year she returned to Pakistan where her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, had been elected prime
minister, but days after her arrival, the military seized power and her father was imprisoned. In 1979 he
was hanged by the military government of General Zia Ul Haq.
Bhutto herself was also arrested many times over the following years, and was detained for three years
before being permitted to leave the country in 1984. She settled in London, but along with her two
brothers, she founded an underground organization to resist the military dictatorship. When her brother
died in 1985, she returned to Pakistan for his burial, and was again arrested for participating in anti-
government rallies.
She returned to London after her release, and martial law was lifted in Pakistan at the end of the year.
Anti-Zia demonstrations resumed and Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan in April 1986. The public
response to her return was tumultuous, and she publicly called for the resignation of Zia Ul Haq, whose
government had executed her father.
She was elected co-chairwoman of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) along with her mother, and when
free elections were finally held in 1988, she herself became Prime Minister. At 35, she was one of the
youngest chief executives in the world, and the first woman to serve as prime minister in an Islamic
country.

Only two years into her first term, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dismissed Bhutto from office. She
initiated an anti-corruption campaign, and in 1993 was re-elected as Prime Minister. While in office, she
brought electricity to the countryside and built schools all over the country. She made hunger, housing
and health care her top priorities, and looked forward to continuing to modernize Pakistan.
At the same time, Bhutto faced constant opposition from the Islamic fundamentalist movement. Her
brother Mir Murtaza, who had been estranged from Benazir since their father's death, returned from
abroad and leveled charges of corruption at Benazir's husband, Asif Ali Zardari. Mir Murtaza died when
his bodyguard became involved in a gunfight with police in Karachi. The Pakistani public was shocked by
this turn of events and PPP supporters were divided over the charges against Zardari.
In 1996 President Leghari of Pakistan dismissed Benazir Bhutto from office, alleging mismanagement,
and dissolved the National Assembly. A Bhutto re-election bid failed in 1997, and the next elected
government, headed by the more conservative Nawaz Sharif, was overthrown by the military. Bhutto's
husband was imprisoned, and once again, she was forced to leave her homeland. For nine years, she
and her children lived in exile in London, where she continued to advocate the restoration of democracy in
Pakistan. In the autumn of 2007, in the face of death threats from radical Islamists, and the hostility of the
government, she returned to her native country.

Although she was greeted by enthusiastic crowds, within hours of her arrival, her motorcade was attacked
by a suicide bomber. She survived this first assassination attempt, although more than 100 bystanders
died in the attack. With national elections scheduled for January 2008, her Pakistan People's Party was
poised for a victory that would make Bhutto prime minister once again. Only a few weeks before the
election, the extremists struck again. After a campaign rally in Rawalpindi, a gunman fired at her car
before detonating a bomb, killing himself and more than 20 bystanders. Bhutto was rushed to the hospital,
but soon succumbed to injuries suffered in the attack. In the wake of her death, rioting erupted throughout
the country. The loss of the country's most popular democratic leader has plunged Pakistan into turmoil,
intensifying the dangerous instability of a nuclear-armed nation in a highly volatile region.

This page last revised on Jan 04, 2008 15:29 PDT