Benazir Bhutto [Born 1953]
Benazir Bhutto, the eldest child of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was born on June 21 1953 in Karachi. She attended Lady Jennings Nursery School and then Convent of Jesus and Mary in Karachi. After two years of schooling at the Pindi Presentation Convent she was sent to the Jesus and Mary Convent at Murree. She passed her O level examination from here at the age of Fifteen. In April 1969 she got admission in the US at Harvard University’s Radcliffe College. In June 1973 Benazir graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Political Science. After graduating from Harvard in 1973, 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 PPE (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.
In July 1977, General Zia-ul-Haq imposed Martial Law. During the Martial Law, Benazir spent almost five years in detention at various jails and ten months in solitary confinement. She was allowed to proceed abroad on medical grounds in January 1984, after spending nearly six and 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 bury her youngest brother. A year later she came back to Pakistan to fight the elections for National and Provincial Assemblies held by General Zia-ul-Haq .On her return on April 10 1986, one million people at Lahore airport welcomed her. She attended mammoth rallies all over Pakistan and kept in close touch with the Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD). On December 18 1987, Benazir married Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi. She contested the elections, which were held on non-party basis by Ghulam Ishaq Khan. Ghulam Ishaq Khan had taken over as acting President after the death of General Zia, who died on 17th August 1988 in an air crash at Bahawalpur.
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 PPP- with out forming an alliance with any party – was able to win 94 out of the 207 seats in the National Assembly. With the cooperation of 8 MQM members and 13 members of the federally Administered Tribal areas, the PPP was able to get a clear majority in the National Assemblies. Benazir Bhutto was nominated as the Prime Minister on 1st December 1988 and Ghulam Ishaq Khan was nominated the President of Pakistan.
Benazir Bhutto became the youngest Prime Minister at the age of thirty-five and the first Muslim woman to lead a Muslim nation in modern times. During her first term, she started People''s Program for economic uplift of the masses. Benazir Bhutto also lifted a ban on the student unions and trade unions. The PPP government hosted the fourth SAARC Summit held in Islamabad in Dec 1988.
Domestic issues and foreign Policy issues along with differences between her Government and the establishment led to the dismissal of her Government by President Ishaq Khan on 6th August 1990.
Benazir returned to power again, by winning the October 1993 Elections. The PPP had won the largest share with 86 seats and formed a new Government with the help of alliances, but her government was dismissed by President Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari on corruption charges in November 1996.
Her publications include "Daughter of the East" and "Foreign Policy Perspective"