| Benazir Bhutto بينظير ڀٽو بينظير بھٹو | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan | |
| In office 19 October 1993 – 5 November 1996 | |
| President | Wasim Sajjad 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 Khan Junejo |
| Succeeded by | Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi (Acting) |
| Leader of the Opposition | |
| In office 17 February 1997 – 12 October 1999 | |
| Preceded by | Nawaz Sharif |
| Succeeded by | Fazal-ur-Rehman |
| In office 6 November 1990 – 18 April 1993 | |
| Preceded by | Khan Abdul Wali Khan |
| Succeeded by | Nawaz Sharif |
| Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party | |
| In office 12 November 1982 – 27 December 2007 Acting: 12 November 1982 – 10 January 1984 | |
| Preceded by | Nusrat Bhutto |
| Succeeded by | Asif Ali Zardari Bilawal Bhutto Zardari |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 21 June 1953 Karachi, Sind, Pakistan (now in Sindh, Pakistan) |
| Died | 27 December 2007 (aged 54) Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan |
| Resting place | Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, Sindh,Pakistan |
| Spouse(s) | Asif Ali Zardari (1987–2007) |
| Relations | Bhutto family Zardari family |
| Children | Bilawal Bakhtawar Asifa |
| Parents | Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (father) Nusrat Bhutto (mother) |
| Alma mater | Harvard University Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford St Catherine's College, Oxford |
| Religion | Islam |
| Signature |  |
Benazir Bhutto (Sindhi: بينظير ڀٽو; Urdu: بينظير بھٹو; June 21, 1953 – December 27, 2007) was the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan, serving two non-consecutive terms in 1988–90 and then 1993–96. A scion of the politically powerful Bhutto family, she was the eldest daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a former prime minister himself who founded the centre-left Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). She was the first woman to become head of government of any Muslim nation.[1]
In 1982, three years after her father's execution, 29-year-old Benazir Bhutto became the chairperson of the PPP—a political party, making her the first woman in Pakistan to head a major political party. In 1988, she became the first woman to be elected as the head of an Islamic state's government; she also remains Pakistan's only female prime minister. Noted for her charismatic authority[2] and political astuteness, Bhutto drove initiatives for Pakistan's economy and national security, and she implemented capitalist policies for industrial development and growth. In addition, her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised deregulation (particularly of the financial sector), flexible labour markets, the denationalisation of state-owned corporations, and the withdrawal of subsidies to others. Bhutto's popularity waned amid recession, corruption, and high unemployment which later led to the dismissal of her government by conservative President Ghulam Ishaq Khan.
In 1993, Bhutto was elected for a second term after the 1993 parliamentary elections. She survived an attempted coup d'état in 1995, and her hard line against the trade unions and tough rhetorical opposition to her domestic political rivals and to neighbouring India earned her the nickname "Iron Lady";[3] she was also respectfully referred to as "BB". In 1996, charges of corruption levelled against her led to the final dismissal of her government by President Farooq Leghari. Bhutto conceded her defeat in the 1997 Parliamentary elections and went into exile in Dubai in 1999. Nine years later, in 2007, she returned to Pakistan, having reached an understanding with President Pervez Musharraf, who granted her amnesty and withdrew all corruption charges against her. Bhutto was assassinated in a bombing on 27 December 2007, after leaving PPP's last rally in Rawalpindi, two weeks before the scheduled 2008 general election in which she was the leading candidate. Her party subsequently won the elections on a wave of sympathy generated by her assassination.
Early life, 1953–77[edit]
See also: Bhutto family
See also: Zardari family
Benazir Bhutto was born at Karachi's Pinto Hospital on 21 June 1953.[4] She was the eldest child of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, of Sindhi Rajput ethnicity,[5][6][7] and Begum Nusrat Ispahani, of Iranian Kurdish descent.[8][9][10] She had three younger siblings—Murtaza, Shahnawaz andSanam. According to Benazir her mother's Kurdish culture played a big role in her becoming the Prime Minister.[8]
Bhutto was raised to speak both English and Urdu, the former being her first language. While she was fluent in Urdu, it was often colloquial rather than formal. In her autobiography 'Daughter of the East', Bhutto also makes reference to her use of the Sindhi language, joking about her misunderstanding of the "Mohenjo-daro". According to various interviews given by former servants of her household, she and her father would speak to them in their native Sindhi.
She attended the Lady Jennings Nursery School and Convent of Jesus and Mary in Karachi.[11] After two years at the Rawalpindi Presentation Convent, she was sent to the Jesus and Mary Convent at Murree. She passed her O-level examinations aged 15.[12] 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 BA with cum laude honours in comparative government.[13] She was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa.[12] Bhutto later called 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 arranged a gift from the Pakistani government to Harvard Law School.[14]
The next phase of her education happened in Britain. Between 1973 and 1977 Bhutto studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she took additional courses in International Law and Diplomacy.[15] After LMH she attended St Catherine's College, Oxford[16] and in December 1976 she was elected president of the Oxford Union, becoming the first Asian woman to head the prestigious debating society.[12] Her undergraduate career was dogged by controversy, partly relating to her father's unpopularity with student politicians.[17] She was also President of the Oxford Majlis Asian Society.[18]
On 18 December 1987, she married Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi. The couple had three children: two daughters, Bakhtawarand Asifa, and a son, Bilawal. When she gave birth to Bakhtawar in 1990, she became the first modern head of government to give birth while in office.[19]
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