Benazir Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto (1953- ), Pakistani political leader, who served as first female prime minister of a Muslim country, she served for Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1996. Born into a wealthy landholding family with a tradition of political activism in southeastern Sindh province, Bhutto enjoyed a privileged childhood Bhutto was educated at Harvard's Radcliffe College in the United States and at the University of Oxford in England, where she excelled in studies as well as other activities including debating competitions; she was the first Asian woman to be elected president of the Oxford Union. The daughter of an intelligent and Charismatic Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (1971-1977), she returned to Pakistan in June 1977, planning on a career in the foreign service. But only two weeks later, however, military officers led by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, capitalizing on public protests of disputed parliamentary elections overthrew Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto 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 fallacious murder charges against her father. The military dictator ignored worldwide appeals for clemency and had Zulfikar Bhutto hanged in April of 1979. Bhutto's persecution began in earnest after the dismissal of her father's government in 1977 and his execution in 1979 as she intensified her denunciations of Zia and sought to organize a political movement against him. Repeatedly put under house arrest, she was finally imprisoned under solitary confinement in a desert cell in Sindh province during the summer of 1981. Bhutto described the hellish conditions in her wall less cage in "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." Released in 1984, she went into exile in Britain until 1986, when martial law was lifted in Pakistan. She returned with a huge crowd numbering in the hundreds of thousands turned out on the streets to greet her, by then the leading symbol of the anti-Zia movement, when she returned to Lahore in April of 1986. Formally elected chair in the following month, Bhutto lost no time in

organizing mass protests and civil disobedience campaigns to pressure Zia to relinquish office and call national elections. Bhutto's stirring oratory, familiar name, and striking appearance helped give her a strong mass appeal, but she had to struggle to wrest real power from the PPP's old-guard leadership, members of which were wary of her gender, youth, and political wisdom. Supported by tumultuous crowds, Bhutto again called for fresh elections, resulting in another short prison term that same year. She also had to contend with internal dissension among the anti-Zia forces. In 1988 Zia was killed in an airplane crash, less than three months after announcing that elections would take place. In the November elections the PPP gained a huge popularity in the National Assembly, and in December 1988 Bhutto, 35 only became prime minister of Pakistan, the first woman to hold this office in any modern Islamic state. During her first term, Her objective was to return Pakistan to civilian rule and oust the men who executed her father, she also started Peoples Program for economic uplift of the masses. Benazir Bhutto lifted a ban on student and trade unions. The PPP. Government hosted the fourth S. A. A. R. C. Summit held in Islamabad, in December 1988. In August 1990, however, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dismissed her, charging her with incompetence and corruption. The President and the Caretaker Prime Minister filed a series of references against Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. Her husband, Mr. Asif Ali Zardari was arrested and imprisoned for over two years on a number of up charges. Her party was soundly defeated in the elections that followed in November 1990, and Bhutto became an opposition leader in the parliament. Subsequent attempts to oust the ruling party resulted in Bhuttos deportation to the city of Karachi in 1992, and she was temporarily banned from entering Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. In July 1993, the President of Pakistan dismissed the Government of Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif on corruption charges and called for fresh elections. The Pakistan Peoples Party went to the people in October, 1993 with a new "Agenda for Change". The programme envisaged government at the door-step of the people and priority to the social sectors. Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was again elected Prime Minister with a broad mandate after achieving strong popular support in all the four provinces of Pakistan. Bhutto's platform has been leftist, including food for the hungry, health care, jobs, slum clearance and a monthly minimum wage. She has been opposed by Islamic fundamentalists who have been suspicious of the PPP because of its alleged leftist.
Addressing at UN

Due to Benazirs Personal world popularity, during her term Pakistans relation with other countries improved ,her moderate foreign policy had been credited for improving the wrong image of Pakistan around the world ,however domestically she and her party have been widely blamed for excessive corruption. Benazir again faced trouble from the opposition. In the autumn of 1994, Nawaz Sharif led a "train march" from Karachi to Peshawar. This was followed by general strike on September 20. Two weeks later Nawaz Sharif called a "wheel jam" strike on October 11. Bhutto was dismissed from office for the second time in late 1996. In October, large street demonstrations shut down the capital, and Bhutto aroused criticism when she had arrested several rival party leaders who had participated in the demonstrations. Bhutto came under pressure from the press and public, who charged her government with corruption and mismanagement. On November 5, 1996, President of Pakistan Farooq Leghari dismissed Prime Minister Bhutto and dissolved the National Assembly. Bhutto's husband, Zardari, was the focus of much of the criticism. She had appointed him to the cabinet post of investment minister. He was accused of taking bribes and pocketing money from government contracts. President Leghari also charged that Zardari was responsible for "extrajudicial killings" in Karachi, where Bhutto rivals had been killed by police. She denounced all charges as politically motivated, and went into self-imposed exile. In 2001 the Supreme Court of Pakistan suspended a high courts 1999 conviction of Bhutto, ordering a retrial, but in a separate trial Bhutto was sentenced in absentia to three years in prison. She is currently still in self-exile in London and faces charges if she returns back. She has been mentioned as "The world's most popular politician" in the New Guinness Book of Record 1996. The "Times" and the "Australian Magazine" (May 4, 1996) have drawn up a list of 100 most powerful women and have included Benazir Bhutto as one of them. She has received many honoury degrees and awards from several countries.
She also lectures and takes part in several major world events. Publications

Benazir Bhutto is the author of two books "Foreign Policy in Perspective" (1978) and her autobiography, "Daughter of the East" (1989). Several collections of her speeches and works have been compiled which include "The Way Out", Pakistan Foreign Policy, Challenges and

Responses in the Post-Cold War era in "After the Cold War" by Keith Philip Lepor and Male Domination of Women offends her Islamic religion in "Lend Me Your ears: Great Speeches in History" by William Saffire. "The Way Out" (1980). She has also contributed to many periodicals and to the books, "Predictions for the Next Millennium" by Kristof and Nickerson and "Book of Hopes and Dreams" published by Bookmaster Inc. AWARDS AND HONORARY DRGREES Bruno Kreisky Award of Merit in human Rights, 1988. Honorary Phi Beta Kappa Award (1989), presented by Radcliffe College. Highest Moroccan Award "Grand Cordon de Wissam Alaoui" Highest French Award "Grand-croix de la Legion Honneur" (1989) The Noel Foundation Award, 1990 (UNIFEM). The Gakushuin Honorary Award, Tokyo (1996) Award by the Turkish Independent Industries and Businessmen Association (MUSAID) on account of providing assistance to the people of Bosnia. Golden medal Dragon of Bosnia awarded by President of Bosnia (1996) Key to the city of Los Angeles, presented by the Mayor of Los Angeles (1995) Presidential Medal, Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Science (1995) Medal by University of California at Los Angeles (1995) Honorary Doctorate of Law, L.L.D Harvard University (1989) Honorary Doctorate of Law (Honoris Causa), University of Sindh (1994) Honorary Doctorate from Mendanao State University, Philippines (1995) Honorary Doctorate of Law (Honoris Causa), Peshawar University (1995) Honorary Doctorate of Economics, Gakushuin University, Tokyo (1996) Honorary Fellowship by Lady Margaret Hall, University Oxford, (1989) Honorary Fellowship by St. Catherine College, University of Oxford, (1989) Honorary Professor of the Kyrghyz State National University (1995) Kyrghyzstan. Honorary Professor of Yassavi Kazakh Turkish University, Kazakh-Turkish International Language University, Kazakhstan, 1995. Honorable Member of OHYUKAI, Alumni Association of Gakushuin, conferred by OHYUKAI Tokyo (1996). Awarded the 2000 Millennium Medal of Honor by American Biographical Institute, Inc. in November 1998. Awarded American Academy Award of Achievement in London, October 28, 2000

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto

Born in 1953, and served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan 1988 to 1990 and from

1993 to 1996. She was the first ever Muslim woman to lead a Muslim country.

Early days She was born into a wealthy landholding family in province of Sindh, Pakistan into a family which had an illustrious tradition of political activism. Her Father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had also served as both President as well as Prime Minister of Pakistan while her grandfather Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto was one of the most high profile Sindhi politicians under British India and also served as a dewan or the Prime Minister of the state of Junagagh. Education Bhutto enjoyed a privileged childhood, and studied at the Jesus and Mary convent school in Murree Hills, before proceeding overseas for higher studies. She was educated at Harvard's Radcliffe College in the United States and at the University of Oxford in England, where she excelled in studies as well as other activities including debating competitions. While at Oxford University she was the first Asian woman to be elected president of the Oxford Union. Return to Pakistan After completing her studies she returned to Pakistan in 1977, planning on a career in the foreign service. Her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was Prime Minister at the time. Only weeks after her return military officers led by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq overthrew Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in a military coup, and arrested her father. 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 fallacious murder charges against her father. The military dictator ignored worldwide appeals for clemency and had Zulfikar Bhutto hanged in April of 1979. Benazir Bhutto's persecution began in earnest after the dismissal of her father's government in 1977 and his execution in 1979 as she intensified her denunciations of Zia and sought to organize a political movement against him. Repeatedly put under house arrest, she was finally imprisoned under solitary confinement in a cell in Sindh province during the summer of 1981. Bhutto described the hellish conditions in her wall less cage in her book "Daughter of the East ": In her books Daughter of the East, she writes "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." Released in 1984, she went into exile in Britain until 1986, when martial law was lifted in Pakistan. She returned with a huge crowd numbering in the hundreds of thousands turned out on the streets to greet her, by then the leading symbol of the anti-Zia movement, when she returned to Lahore in April of 1986. Formally elected chair in the following month, Bhutto lost no time in organizing mass protests and civil disobedience campaigns to pressure Zia to relinquish office and call national elections. Bhutto's stirring oratory, familiar name, and striking appearance helped give her a strong mass appeal, but she had to struggle to wrest real power from the PPP's old-guard leadership, members of which were wary of her gender, youth, and political wisdom. Supported by tumultuous crowds, Bhutto again called for fresh elections, resulting in another short prison term that same year. She also had to contend with internal dissension among the anti-Zia forces. In 1988 Zia was killed in an airplane crash, less than three months after announcing that elections would take place. In the November elections the PPP gained a huge popularity in the National Assembly, and in December 1988 Bhutto, 35 only became prime minister of Pakistan, the first woman to hold this office in any modern Islamic state. During her first term, Her objective was to return Pakistan to civilian rule and oust the men who executed her father, she also started Peoples Program for economic uplift of the masses. Benazir Bhutto lifted a ban on student and trade unions. The PPP. Government hosted the fourth S. A. A. R. C. Summit held in Islamabad, in December 1988. In August 1990, however, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dismissed her government using controversial powers which were introduced under military government. After the dismissal of her government, her husband, Mr. Asif Ali Zardari was arrested and imprisoned for over two years on a number of up charges. In the next elections, which were disputed her party did not secure enough seats to form government and Bhutto became an opposition leader in the parliament. Subsequent attempts to oust the ruling party resulted in Bhuttos deportation to the city of Karachi in 1992, and she was temporarily banned from entering Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. In July 1993, the President of Pakistan dismissed the Government of Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif on corruption charges and called for fresh elections. The Pakistan Peoples Party went to the people in October, 1993 with a new "Agenda for Change". The programme envisaged government at the door-step of the people and priority to the social sectors. Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was again elected Prime Minister with a broad mandate after achieving strong popular support in all the four provinces of Pakistan. Bhutto's platform has been leftist, including food for the hungry, health care, jobs, slum clearance and a monthly minimum wage. She has been opposed by Islamic fundamentalists who have been suspicious of the PPP because of its alleged leftist. Due to Benazirs Personal world popularity, during her term Pakistans relation with other countries improved ,her moderate foreign policy had been credited for improving the wrong image of Pakistan around the world ,however domestically she

and her party have been widely blamed for excessive corruption. Benazir again faced trouble from the opposition. In the autumn of 1994, Nawaz Sharif led a "train march" from Karachi to Peshawar. This was followed by general strike on September 20. Two weeks later Nawaz Sharif called a "wheel jam" strike on October 11. Once again, using the controversial powers given to the President under Article 58-2 B, elected government of Benazir Bhutto was dismissed from office for the second time in late 1996. Once again a vendetta was launched against Benazir Bhutto in which politically motivated cases were registered against her and her husband Asif Ali Zardari in order to persecute her and put her under pressure. She denounced all charges as politically motivated, and went into self-imposed exile. Since then she 1999 until 18th October 2007, she remained in exile. Home Coming - Back with her people On 18th October 2007 Benazir Bhutto ended her exile and returned to Pakistan and it is estimated that she was received by crowds exceeding 3 million people. This was perhaps the most historic gathering of people in Pakistan. The massive support on the street was evidence that she remains as the most popular leader in Pakistan despite a barrage of disinformation campaign against her. She has been mentioned as "The world's most popular politician" in the New Guinness Book of Record 1996. According to The "Times" and the "Australian Magazine" (May 4, 1996) she is one of the 100 most powerful women in the World. She has received many honoury degrees and awards from several countries. She also lectures and takes part in several major world events.

Publications Benazir Bhutto is the author of two books "Foreign Policy in Perspective" (1978) and her autobiography, "Daughter of the East" (1989). Several collections of her speeches and works have been compiled which include "The Way Out", Pakistan Foreign Policy, Challenges and Responses in the Post-Cold War era in "After the Cold War" by Keith Philip Lepor and Male Domination of Women offends her Islamic religion in "Lend Me Your ears: Great Speeches in History" by William Saffire. "The Way Out" (1980). She has also contributed to many periodicals and to the books, "Predictions for the Next Millennium" by Kristof and Nickerson and "Book of Hopes and Dreams" published by Bookmaster Inc. AWARDS AND HONORARY DRGREES Honorary Honorary Honorary Honorary Doctorate Doctorate Doctorate Doctorate of Law, L.L.D Harvard University (1989) of Law (Honoris Causa), University of Sindh (1994) from Mendanao State University, Philippines (1995) of Law (Honoris Causa), Peshawar University (1995)

Honorary Doctorate of Economics, Gakushuin University, Tokyo (1996) Honorary Fellowship by Lady Margaret Hall, University Oxford, (1989)

Honorary Fellowship by St. Catherine College, University of Oxford, (1989) Honorary Professor of the Kyrghyz State National University (1995) Kyrghyzstan. Honorary Professor of Yassavi Kazakh Turkish University, Kazakh-Turkish International Language University, Kazakhstan, 1995. Honorable Member of OHYUKAI, Alumni Association of Gakushuin, conferred by OHYUKAI Tokyo (1996). Awarded the 2000 Millennium Medal of Honor by American Biographical Institute, Inc. in November 1998. Awarded American Academy Award of Achievement in London, October 28, 2000 Bruno Kreisky Award of Merit in human Rights, 1988. Honorary Phi Beta Kappa Award (1989), presented by Radcliffe College. Highest Moroccan Award "Grand Cordon de Wissam Alaoui" Highest French Award "Grand-croix de la Legion Honneur" (1989) The Noel Foundation Award, 1990 (UNIFEM). The Gakushuin Honorary Award, Tokyo (1996) Award by the Turkish Independent Industries and Businessmen Association (MUSAID) on account of providing assistance to the people of Bosnia. Golden medal Dragon of Bosnia awarded by President of Bosnia (1996) Key to the city of Los Angeles, presented by the Mayor of Los Angeles (1995) Presidential Medal, Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Science (1995) Medal by University of California at Los Angeles (1995) International Woman of the Year in Dubai 2006 Marriage In line with the Pakistani and Muslim traditions Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto's married Mr. Asif Ali Zardari in 1987. Mr. Zardari was a prominent businessman and hails from Nawab shah in Sindh. After both the families finalized the relation, engagement was announced on 29th July 1987, and the couple was married on December 18, 1987 in Karachi. Mr Asif Ali Zardari has been a Member of Parliament as well as served as a government minister. He also spent a considerable time in jail on politically motivated charges. Speaking about her marriage, while speaking to Los Angeles Times, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto said, " For me the choice was not between a love marriage or an arranged marriage but between agreeing to this or not getting married at all ... An arranged marriage may seem traditional, but what is not traditional is the fact I'm not abandoning my identity or my career. If I had thought it might hurt my political career, I know I would never have taken this step. I would never have gotten married at any stage. I would have never sought personal happiness at the cost of my country. If people have given their lives for the cause of freedom and constitutional rule, then I surely could have sacrificed marriage and children." Source: Tyler Marshall, "Political Maverick Bows to Muslim custom", Los Angeles Times, 08/07/1987. Children The Couple have three children, and the eldest being their son Bilawal, who was born

in September 1988, followed by two daughters Bakhtwar, and Aseefa respectively. They are pursuing their education.

Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto Date of birth: June 21, 1953 Date of death: December 27, 2007

Print Biography

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.