Misplaced Pages

#2997

103-470: Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician and stateswoman who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996. She was the first woman elected to head a democratic government in a Muslim-majority country. Ideologically a liberal and a secularist , she chaired or co-chaired the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) from

206-459: A Bachelor of Arts in 1973. In 1971, while she was at Harvard, Zulfikar invited her to join him in New York City , where he was involved in a United Nations Security Council meeting on that year's Indo-Pakistani War . In December 1971, Zulfikar assumed the presidency of Pakistan, the first democratically elected leader after 13 years of military rule. In 1972, Benazir accompanied her father to

309-540: A Swiss court. Following the United States–brokered negotiations with then president, general Pervez Musharraf , she returned to Pakistan in 2007 to compete in the 2008 elections ; her platform emphasised civilian oversight of the military and opposition to growing Islamist violence. After a political rally in Rawalpindi , she was assassinated . The Salafi jihadi group al-Qaeda claimed responsibility, although

412-466: A U.S. ambassador to India, to be her local guardian. Through him, Bhutto met his son Peter Galbraith , who became a lifelong friend. Murtaza joined Bhutto at Harvard a year later. Bhutto found it difficult adjusting to life in the United States. A fellow student said she "cried most of her first semester", although Bhutto later called her time at Harvard "four of the happiest years of my life". She became

515-585: A campus tour guide with the Crimson Key Society and the social secretary of her dormitory, Eliot House . She involved herself in campaigns against American involvement in the Vietnam War , joining a Moratorium Day protest on Boston Common . She encountered activists involved in second wave feminism although was sceptical of some of the views expressed within the movement. At Harvard, Bhutto majored in comparative government and graduated cum laude with

618-495: A commitment to the free market . Amid predictions that the PPP would win, it received 18,000 prospective candidates, many offering the party money for their selection; this influx of new members and candidates caused upset among many established members, who felt that Bhutto was deserting them. In the build-up to the election, there was a great sense of hope among liberal sectors of Pakistani society. However, Islamic fundamentalists said it

721-487: A flat in London's Barbican Estate . There, she socialised with friends, going shopping, hosting dinner parties, and visiting the cinema. One friend said that after her time in prison she remained in "a mildly traumatized state, jumping at sudden noise and worrying about who might be spying on her". In March, Bhutto visited New York City and Washington D.C., where she met with media figures and middle-ranking government officials but

824-506: A ground-breaker when it came to gender issues, and thus presented her mother Nusrat as being far more conservative than she really was, for instance falsely claiming that Nusrat had urged her to wear the burqa when she had reached adolescence. Bhutto's first cabinet was the largest in Pakistan's history. She appointed herself as the new treasury minister, with her mother as a senior minister without portfolio, and her father-in-law as chairman of

927-751: A harder line against them, particularly on the Kashmir conflict . Amid growing Kashmiri protests against Indian rule, in interviews Bhutto expressed support for the Kashmiri Muslim community. She called on the United Nations to oversee the Kashmir plebiscite originally promised in 1948. Bhutto visited a training camp for pro-independence Kashmiris on the Pakistani side of the border and pledged $ 5 million for their cause; she followed this with further statements in support of

1030-450: A language are disputed by scholars. However, despite serving as the country's lingua franca, most Pakistanis speak their ethnic languages and the lingua franca as second. Numerous regional and provincial languages are spoken as native languages by Pakistan's various ethnolinguistic groups, with the Punjabi language having a national plurality as the first language of approximately 45 percent of

1133-399: A liberal one, before leading it to victory in the 1988 election . As prime minister, her attempts at reform were stifled by conservative and Islamist forces, including President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and the powerful military. Her administration was accused of corruption and nepotism and dismissed by Khan in 1990. Intelligence services rigged that year's election to ensure a victory for

SECTION 10

#1732858621003

1236-660: A member of the government. He was also accused of receiving kickbacks and gained the nickname "Mr Ten Percent". The ISI had extensively spied upon Bhutto and her husband throughout her period in office, President Khan privately paid plaintiffs to file corruption suits against Bhutto's husband. While the investigations into his corruption were therefore politically motivated, there also was significant evidence of his guilt in this regard. In 1990, Bhutto gave birth to her first daughter, Bakhtawar. Pakistani Pakistanis ( Urdu : پاكِستانى قوم , romanized :  Pākistānī Qaum , lit.   ' Pakistani Nation ' ) are

1339-431: A mock-up of the Pakistani nuclear weapon and stated his opinion that research the project it had reached a crescendo in the final years of Zia's government. William's revelations came as a shock to Bhutto, who was unaware of how advanced Pakistan's nuclear development had become. The United States wanted to prevent Pakistan from creating such a device, and President George H. W. Bush informed her that U.S. military aid to

1442-502: A parliamentary no-confidence vote in Bhutto's leadership, but it was defeated by 12 votes. Bhutto claimed that many National Assembly voters had been bribed to vote against her, with $ 10 million having been supplied for this by a Saudi Salafi cleric, Osama bin Laden , who sought to overthrow her government and replace it with an Islamic theocracy. Her conservative critics continued to claim it

1545-513: A regime that combined military rule with social programs designed to further the Islamisation of Pakistani society according to Islamic fundamentalist principles. Socialists, intellectuals, and journalists were arrested. Zulfikar, too, was arrested, initially for less than a month. After a crowd of over one million people greeted Zulfikar's release in Karachi and demonstrations were held in support of

1648-665: A significant presence in the Middle East , Europe , North America , and Australia . According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs , Pakistan has the seventh-largest diaspora in the world. According to the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development of the Government of Pakistan , approximately 10+ million Pakistanis live abroad, with the vast majority (over 4.7 million) residing in

1751-803: A three-day visit in Islamabad following the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit. Rajiv returned on a bilateral visit six months later. She pleased him by revoking Zia's offer of the Nishan-e-Pakistan award to the former Indian leader Morarji Desai . The two countries agreed to reduce their military levels along the border and agreed not to attack their respective nuclear installations. Bhutto claimed that she terminated support for Sikh separatists active in India, something which Zia had encouraged to destabilise Indian control in their half of

1854-715: Is descended from the Arains , a Muslim tribe of Punjab, who have a subclan called Bhutta, and they also claim to be descended from the Arabs who entered India in AD 712 while others say that Benazir is descended from the Rajputs . The couple had married in September 1951, and Benazir was their first child. She was given the name of an aunt who had died young. The Bhuttos' three younger children were Murtaza (born 1954), Sanam (1957), and Shahnawaz (1958). When

1957-410: Is the shalwar kameez , a unisex garment widely-worn, and national dress , of Pakistan. When women wear the shalwar-kameez in some regions, they usually wear a long scarf or shawl called a dupatta around the head or neck. The dupatta is also employed as a form of modesty—although it is made of delicate material, it obscures the upper body's contours by passing over the shoulders. For Muslim women,

2060-478: The 1956 constitution has led to the large-scale injection of Islam into most aspects of Pakistani culture and everyday life, which has accordingly impacted the historical values and traditions of the Muslim-majority population . Marriages and other major events are significantly impacted by regional differences in culture but generally follow Islamic jurisprudence where required. The national dress of Pakistan

2163-453: The 1981 Pakistan International Airlines hijacking , the government used this as the pretext for re-arresting Bhutto and her mother in March. Bhutto disapproved of the hijacking, believing that it strengthened Zia's hand; that she was punished for it may have exacerbated tensions with her brothers. In July 1981, Nusrat was released so that she could seek medical treatment for cancer abroad, but Bhutto

SECTION 20

#1732858621003

2266-522: The Arab states of the Persian Gulf . Garhi Khuda Baksh Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the father of Benazir, was buried in the village after being executed following a military coup that removed him from power. On 27 October 2007, nine days after the first assassination attempt against her after returning from exile, Benazir Bhutto arrived in the village amidst tight security to visit her father's mausoleum —she

2369-634: The Bangladesh Liberation War made him unsuitable. Ultimately, the university declined to award the honorary degree. In later years, Bhutto acknowledged that at this time she had been ignorant of the Pakistani Army's complicity in the atrocities in Bangladesh, although always maintained that her father was blameless on the issue. After her Oxford education, she returned to Pakistan in June 1977, where she

2472-475: The Chief of Army Staff . Both Zulfikar and Benazir believed that Zia's coup had been assisted by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); Zulfikar claimed that in a 1975 meeting, U.S. diplomat Henry Kissinger had told him that the U.S. would make "a horrible example" of him if he did not terminate Pakistan's efforts to build a nuclear bomb. Now in control of the country, Zia suspended the constitution, and initiated

2575-1233: The Convent of Jesus and Mary in Karachi and from there to the Jesus and Mary Convent , a boarding school in Murree . Murree is near the border with India, and during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Bhutto and the other pupils underwent air-raid practices. Taking her exams in December 1968, Bhutto passed her O-levels with high grades. Throughout her youth, Bhutto idolised her father, and he, in turn, encouraged her educational development in contravention of traditional approaches to women then pervasive in Pakistan. Relations between her parents were however strained during her childhood; Zulfikar embarked on extra-marital affairs with other women, and when Nusrat objected he had her thrown out of their house. She moved to Iran, but after Zulfikar prevented her children from joining her there, she returned to Pakistan six months later, settling in Karachi. Throughout her life, Bhutto never publicly acknowledged this internal family discord. When Bhutto

2678-526: The Pakistan Muslim League , Pakistan Democratic Party , Mazdoor Kisan Party , National Awami Party , Quomi Mahaz-e-Azadi, Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam , and the Tahrik-i-Istiqlal. The MRD called for a four-point program: an end to martial law, the restoration of the 1973 constitution, parliamentary elections, and the transfer of political power from the military to the elected representatives. There

2781-450: The Pakistan People's Party (PPP). The PPP used the motto "Islam is our faith, democracy is our policy, socialism is our economy. All power to the people." It employed a populist strategy to attract votes, promising "roti, kapra aur makan" (bread, clothes, and housing) for every Pakistani and insisting that the disputed territory of Kashmir would be transferred from Indian to Pakistani control. Benazir immediately joined. Amid riots against

2884-648: The citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan . Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country , with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as 90% of the population follows Sunni Islam . A majority of around 97% of Pakistanis are Muslims . The majority of Pakistanis natively speak languages belonging to the Indo-Iranic family ( Indo-Aryan and Iranic subfamilies). Located in South Asia ,

2987-645: The fastest-growing populations in the world, Pakistan's people belong to various ethnic groups, with the overwhelming majority being native speakers of the Indo-Iranic languages . Ethnically, Indo-Aryan peoples comprise the majority of the population in the eastern provinces of Pakistani Punjab , Sindh , and Kashmir , while Iranic peoples comprise the majority in the western provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa . In addition to its four provinces , Pakistan also administers two disputed territories known as Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan ; both territories also have an Indo-Aryan majority with

3090-491: The political prisoners being held by Zia's regime. Although she was the party's acting chairperson, many of its elder members were unhappy with this situation, believing her insufficiently committed to socialism and fearing that the party would become nothing more than a Bhutto family fiefdom. Murtaza believed that it was he, and not Benazir, who was their father's designated political heir; as evidence, he cited that he had been asked to manage his father's Larkana constituency in

3193-486: The waderos or landed gentry. They were Shia Muslims . Benazir, in her autobiography "Daughter of the East", said "The diaries of one of our ancestors, giving the family details, were washed away in a great flood in my great-grandfather's time. But as children, we were told we were either descended from the Rajputs ...or from the Arabs who entered India through our home province of Sindh in AD 712." Some say that Benazir Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto - Misplaced Pages Continue

3296-415: The 1977 general election. Bhutto biographer Shyam Bhatia thought that this was probably Zulfikar's intention, as the latter would have recognised the significant impediments to a woman being elected leader in a conservative Islamic society like Pakistan. Benazir nevertheless maintained that her father had always wanted her to become a politician. In July 1985, Shahnawaz died under unexplained circumstances in

3399-482: The Bhutto family name rather than taking that of her new husband. After the wedding, she soon became pregnant and gave birth to her first son, Bilawal . In May 1988, Zia dissolved the assemblies and called a November election. He had not wanted Bhutto to win, and his choice of date may have been deliberately chosen to coincide with the date when Bhutto was projected to give birth, thus hindering her ability to campaign. He also sought to hinder her chances by declaring that

3502-552: The Clifton Palace Gardens at Karachi in December 1987. The event was billed as the "People's Wedding", serving as a de facto political rally, with a subsequent party in a Lyari stadium being attended by 200,000 people. There, some fired Kalashnikovs into the air in celebration, accidentally resulting in one death and multiple injuries. Bhutto would have been aware that being married gave her an image of respectability which would improve her chances of being elected. She kept

3605-510: The French city of Cannes . Bhutto varyingly claimed that Shahnawaz had been murdered by his wife, Raehana, or had been killed on the orders of Zia. Zia's government allowed her to bring her brother's body to Pakistan in August, where it could be interred in the family cemetery at Larkana. Shortly after the burial, she was arrested and detained under house arrest in Karachi until November, at which point she

3708-509: The Gulf states—but met with President Khan, informing him that the U.S. would not support Pakistani military action. He convinced Pakistan to step back from hostilities and to disband the Kashmiri training camps in its territory. After Bhutto became prime minister, President Khan and the military were reluctant to tell her about Pakistan's nuclear program, and it remains unknown how much Bhutto knew about

3811-646: The India-Pakistan Summit in Simla as a replacement for her mother, who was ill. There, she was introduced to the Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi . While in Simla, she attracted much attention from both local and national Indian press, the first time she received such notice. She attributed this to the fact that—in her words—she "symbolized a new generation. I had never been an Indian. I had been born in independent Pakistan. I

3914-511: The Islamist reforms that Zia had introduced. She did not repeal the Hudood Ordinances , which remained in law until 2006. Her opposition to legalised abortion frustrated many Pakistani feminists . Throughout her first term, Bhutto was criticised for being indecisive and unable to maintain control. There had been anger that her husband had been allowed to attend cabinet meetings despite not being

4017-545: The Kahuta enrichment plant. The ISI organised Operation Midnight Jackal , through which they used bribery and intimidation to discourage National Assembly members from voting with the PPP. By 1990, the revelation of Midnight Jackal lessened President Khan's influence in national politics, government and the military. In the 1980s, ethnic violence had broken out in Sindh province, with most of those killed being mohajirs . Late in 1989,

4120-544: The MQM—whose party represented mohajir interests—left Bhutto's coalition government. The MQM then joined other voices in calling for a general strike to protest Bhutto's government. In May 1990, she ordered the army to restore peace in Karachi and Hyderabad. Within months of Bhutto's election, dissolution had set in among her liberal supporters. Her narrow majority in the National Assembly had left her unable to reverse many of

4223-555: The MRD, taking part in a pro-democracy rally on Independence Day on 14 August. Following the rally, she was again arrested and detained for several weeks in Landhi Jail. Back in Pakistan, she agreed to an arranged marriage ; her mother selected Asif Ali Zardari as a suitable husband. He was from a landowning family, and his father had obtained additional wealth through the construction and cinema industries. The marriage ceremony took place in

Benazir Bhutto - Misplaced Pages Continue

4326-592: The National Press Trust, a conglomerate of over 15 newspapers, but President Khan delayed signing the documents and thus the Trust would only be broken up during her second premiership. A number of social reforms were carried out, such as the establishment of new literacy centres, new pension rights, and the abolition of admission and bed fees forced upon during the Zia regime. Among the problems facing Pakistan when Bhutto took

4429-408: The PPP to victory in the election, taking 93 of the 205 contested seats. The IJI took only 54 seats, although the party secured control of Punjab, the country's largest and most powerful province. This meant that the PPP had the largest number of seats, although not a clear majority. Both the PPP and IJI courted independent MPs hoping to woo them to their side, and unsuccessful attempts were also made by

4532-518: The Premiership was soaring employment and high unemployment. The Pakistani government was bankrupt, with Zia having borrowed at high-interest rates to pay government wages. Many of the policy promises she had made in her election campaign were not delivered because the Pakistani state was unable to finance them; she had claimed that a million new homes would be built each year and that universal free education and healthcare would be introduced, none of which

4635-456: The Punjab. This warming of relations angered many domestic Islamist and conservative forces; they alleged that she and Gandhi were having a sexual relationship, said that she was secretly an Indian agent, and also placed renewed emphasis on the fact that Bhutto's paternal grandmother had been born to a Hindu family. The people of Kashmir do not fear death because they are Muslims. The Kashmiris have

4738-647: The United Kingdom and began studying for a second undergraduate degree, in Philosophy, Politics and Economics , at Lady Margaret Hall , University of Oxford . After three years, she received a second-class degree . At her father's insistence, she remained in Oxford to study for a one-year postgraduate degree, reading international law and diplomacy; at this point she attended St Catherine's College, Oxford . One of her fellow students at Oxford stated that there, she "epitomized

4841-416: The United States. It was written with the assistance of an American ghost writer . Bhutto biographer Brooke Allen stating that it was "pre-eminently a political performance" written for a Western audience, with the intent of "seducing Western opinion and opinion-makers". As well as whitewashing her father's regime, Bhutto's autobiography contained several factual falsifications; she wished to present herself as

4944-411: The assassination of her brother Murtaza , a failed 1995 coup d'état , and a further bribery scandal involving her and her husband Asif Ali Zardari ; in response, President Farooq Leghari dismissed her government. The PPP lost the 1997 election and in 1998 she went into self-exile, living between Dubai and London for the next decade. A widening corruption inquiry culminated in a 2003 conviction in

5047-550: The backing of the military. In the presidential election, Bhutto initially proposed Malik Qasim, who had been involved in the MRD, as the PPP's nominee, but the military refused to accept this. Bhutto relented and agreed that Khan could be nominated as the PPP's presidential candidate. Bhutto also wanted to replace Mahbub ul Haq as a finance minister, but again the military opposed her. Compromising, she accepted ul Haq's continued role as finance minister but appointed Wasim Jafri as her financial advisor. Beg made it clear to Bhutto that

5150-615: The blood of the mujahids and ghazis. The Kashmiris have the blood of muhajadeens because Kashmiris are the heirs of Prophet Mohammed, Hazrat Ali, and Hazrat Omar. And the brave women of Kashmir? They know how to fight and also to live. And when they live, they do so with dignity. From every village only one voice will emerge: freedom; from every school only one voice will emerge: freedom; every child will shout, "freedom, freedom, freedom". — Bhutto's speech rallying Kashmiri militants to fight for independence from India, 1990 After accusations of being too conciliatory towards India, Bhutto took

5253-459: The classic spoilt rich girl from a third world country". She nevertheless made friends, who later described her as a humorous and intellectually curious individual. In 1977, she was elected President of the Oxford Union debating society, the first Asian woman to hold that post. After her three-month term was up, she was succeeded by her close friend, Victoria Schofield . Bhutto was also active in

SECTION 50

#1732858621003

5356-563: The commencement speech at Harvard. As premier, Bhutto was reluctant to challenge the ISI's support for the Islamist mujahideen forces in Afghanistan which were then engaged in a civil war against the country's Marxist–Leninist government . The U.S. was funneling money to these mujahedeen through Pakistan, although preferred to deal directly with Beg, Gul, and Ishaq Khan rather than through Bhutto. In April 1989, Gul led an invasion of Afghanistan with

5459-526: The conservative Islamic Democratic Alliance (IJI), at which point Bhutto became Leader of the Opposition . After the IJI government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was also dismissed on corruption charges, Bhutto led the PPP to victory in the 1993 elections . In her second term, she oversaw economic privatisation and attempts to advance women's rights . Her government was damaged by several controversies, including

5562-409: The country after the partition of British India in 1947. Major ethnolinguistic groups in the country include Punjabis , Pashtuns , Sindhis , Saraikis , and Baloch people ; with significant numbers of Kashmiris , Brahuis , Hindkowans , Paharis , Shina people , Burusho people , Wakhis , Baltis , Chitralis , and other minorities. The existence of Pakistan as an Islamic state since

5665-454: The country has the second-largest population of Muslims in the world after Indonesia . Other minority religious faiths include Hinduism , Christianity , Ahmadiyya , Sikhism , the Baháʼí Faith , Zoroastrianism , and Kalasha . Pakistan's Hindu and Christian minorities comprise the second- and third-largest religious groups in the country, respectively. The Pakistani diaspora maintains

5768-485: The country is also the source of a significantly large diaspora , most of whom reside in the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf , with an estimated population of 4.7 million. The second-largest Pakistani diaspora resides throughout both Northwestern Europe and Western Europe , where there are an estimated 2.4 million; over half of this figure resides in the United Kingdom (see British Pakistanis ). Having one of

5871-590: The country would cease unless Pakistan refrained from producing nuclear bomb cores, the final step in creating the weapon. Between January and March 1989, she authorised cold tests of nuclear weaponry, without fissionable material, although this did not satisfy the military authorities. In 1990, shortly before leaving office, the American Ambassador Robert Oakley informed her that information obtained by U.S. satellites indicated that her commitment to not produce weapons-grade uranium had been breached at

5974-610: The country's Sindhi minority, as well as a perception that Bhutto—a Sindhi—was attacking the Punjab. Although Bhutto had long supported greater autonomy for Pakistan's provinces, she opposed it in the case of the Punjab. Sharif's Punjabi authority refused to accept the federal officials whom Bhutto posted there. Relations between Bhutto and Pakistan's civil service also deteriorated, causing paralysis of many state affairs; Bhutto spoke of it as "Zia's bureaucracy" and her perceived anti-Punjabi stance impacted many civil servants, of whom 80% were Punjabi. In April 1989, opposition parties organised

6077-545: The country's right-wing forces to convince some of the elected PPP parliamentarians to switch allegiance to the IJI. The people of Pakistan had rejected bigotry and prejudice in electing a woman Prime Minister. It was an enormous honor and an equally enormous responsibility... I had not asked for this role; I had not asked for this mantle. But the forces of destiny and the forces of history had thrust me forward, and I felt privileged and awed. — Bhutto on becoming prime minister in her autobiography President Ghulam Ishaq Khan

6180-561: The coup, Zulfikar had appointed his wife co-chair of the PPP, while in October 1977 Benazir was appointed to the PPP's central committee. After Zulfikar's death, Benazir replaced his role in the party, becoming its co-leader. In February 1981, she formally established the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD), a group that brought together the PPP with other political parties in the country:

6283-588: The crash, although sabotage was widely suspected, with the Soviets, Americans, Indians, and Israelis all presented as potential culprits. Bhutto privately attributed it to an act of God. After Zia's death, the Supreme Court announced that the election should take place on a party basis, rather than the non-party basis that Zia had desired. Bhutto insisted that the PPP campaign separately from the MRD, and dropped its socialist platform in favour of economic Thatcherism and

SECTION 60

#1732858621003

6386-419: The development of civil society ; she ensured the release of a number of political prisoners detained under the Zia government. and lifted the ban on trade unions and student associations. She removed many of the constraints imposed on non-governmental organisations , and introduced measures to lift the media censorship introduced by Zia's military administrations. She entrusted Shamsul Hasan with dismantling

6489-500: The dupatta is a less stringent alternative to the chador or burqa . Urdu , or Lashkari (لشکری ), an Indo-Aryan language , is the lingua franca of Pakistan, and while it shares official status with English , it is the preferred and dominant language used for inter-communication between different ethnic groups. It is not believed to be a language affiliated with any ethnicity and its speakers come from various backgrounds. Although Indo-Aryan in classification, its exact origins as

6592-579: The early 1980s until her assassination in 2007 . Of mixed Sindhi , Persian , and Kurdish parentage, Bhutto was born in Karachi to a politically important, wealthy aristocratic family . She studied at Harvard University and the University of Oxford , where she was President of the Oxford Union . Her father, the PPP leader Zulfikar Bhutto , was elected prime minister on a socialist platform in 1973. She returned to Pakistan in 1977, shortly before her father

6695-402: The early years of her career, she was nevertheless domestically popular and also attracted support from the international community , seen as a champion of democracy. Posthumously, she came to be regarded as an icon for women's rights due to her political success in a male-dominated society. Bhutto was born at Pinto's Nursing Home on 21 June 1953 in Karachi , Sindh , Pakistan. Her father was

6798-481: The elderly Shah Nawaz died in 1957, Zulfikar inherited the family's land holdings, making him extremely wealthy. Benazir's first language was English; as a child she spoke Urdu less frequently although she was fluent, and barely spoke the local Sindhi language . Her mother taught her some Persian as a child. Benazir initially attended the Lady Jennings Nursery School in Karachi. She was then sent to

6901-401: The election would be held on a non-party basis, with candidates standing as individuals rather than as representatives of a political party. Bhutto and the PPP launched a legal challenge against this latter stipulation. In August, Zia suddenly died when his aircraft crashed shortly after take-off from Bahawalpur Airport . A joint U.S.–Pakistani investigation was unable to ascertain the cause of

7004-415: The exception of the latter's subregion of Baltistan , which is largely inhabited by Tibetan peoples . Pakistan also hosts an insignificant population of Dravidian peoples , the majority of whom are South Indians who trace their roots to historical princely states such as Hyderabad Deccan and are identified with the multi-ethnic community of Muhajirs ( lit.   ' migrants ' ), who arrived in

7107-514: The government of President Ayub Khan , in 1968 Zulfikar was arrested and imprisoned for three months, during which he wrote to Benazir to encourage her studies. From 1969 to 1973, Bhutto studied for an undergraduate degree at Radcliffe College , Harvard University . She started when she was sixteen, which was younger than normal, but Zulfikar had pulled strings to allow her premature admittance. Zulfikar asked his friend John Kenneth Galbraith , an economics professor at Harvard who had formerly been

7210-551: The involvement of the Pakistani Taliban and rogue elements of the intelligence services was widely suspected. She was buried at her family mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Baksh . Bhutto was a controversial figure who remains divisive. She was often criticised as being politically inexperienced, was accused of being corrupt , and faced much opposition from Pakistan's Islamist lobby for her secularist and modernising agenda. In

7313-467: The issue during her first term in office. She later related that to find out more she contacted key scientists in the program, such as A. Q. Khan , herself, bypassing the president and military hierarchy. On her trip to the United States, she told Congress that "we do not possess, nor do we intend to make, a nuclear device". While in Washington D.C., she met with CIA director William Webster , who showed her

7416-662: The leaders of Islamic countries who also had good relationships with her father, including Libya's Gaddafi, Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Zayed, and the Saudi royal family. In 1989, she attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kuala Lumpur , where Pakistan was re-admitted to the Commonwealth of Nations . In January 1989, she made a second pilgrimage to Mecca, and in June visited the U.S. to address both houses of Congress and giving

7519-489: The local Conservative Association and it is through this connection that she is widely believed to have introduced future British Prime Minister , Theresa May , to her future husband Philip May . Despite the ongoing tensions between Pakistan and India, she interacted socially with Indian students, and while at Oxford also made proposals of marriage to two fellow Pakistani students, but was rebuffed on both occasions. Bhutto biographer Brooke Allen thought that her time at Oxford

7622-471: The military would not tolerate her interference in their control of the defence and foreign affairs. At the time, 60% of the country's population lived in Punjab province, which was under the control of Zia's protégé, Nawaz Sharif , as provincial Chief Minister. Both Sharif and Bhutto attempted to remove the other from power, with Bhutto accusing Sharif of having rigged the election to become Chief Minister. Sharif benefited from growing Punjabi chauvinism toward

7725-459: The ousted president, Zia decided to eliminate him permanently. In September, Zulfikar was re-arrested and charged with the 1974 murder of Muhammad Ahmed Khan Kasuri , the father of Ahmed Raza Kasuri , a vocal critic of Zulfikar's government. After the coup, Bhutto's brothers were sent abroad to canvass international support for their father. Bhutto and her mother remained in Pakistan, although they were repeatedly detained for short periods. When she

7828-450: The parliamentary public accounts committee, quashing hopes that her administration would depart from the entrenched systems of cronyism in the country. Most of those in the administration had little political experience. Various members of the PPP old guard, including Mumtaz Ali Bhutto , left the party in frustration at the pro-capitalist direction she had taken. Following her election, there remained significant mistrust between Bhutto and

7931-509: The plan, believing that the international condemnation would be severe. With both armies mobilizing on either side of the border, there were growing fears that tensions over Kashmir could result in a nuclear war between Pakistan and India. The U.S. sent special envoy Robert Gates to the region to dissuade the Pakistanis from going to war. He could not meet Bhutto—who was in Yemen as part of a tour of

8034-511: The politician Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and her mother was Begum Nusrat Ispahani . The latter was born in Isfahan , Persia (now Iran ) to a wealthy Persian merchant family of partial Kurdish descent. Zulfikar was the son of Shah Nawaz Bhutto , a prominent politician who had served as Prime Minister of the Junagadh State . The Bhuttos were aristocratic , wealthy landlords from Sindh , part of

8137-453: The politicians Claiborne Pell and James Buckley . When Zia visited Washington D.C. in December 1982, they raised the issue of Bhutto's imprisonment with him. As international pressure mounted, the Pakistani government agreed to release her, placing her on a flight to Geneva in January 1984. From Geneva, Bhutto proceeded to the United Kingdom, undergoing surgery on her mastoid before renting

8240-491: The pro-independence groups. In one speech, she incited Kashmiri Muslims to rise up against their administration. Later, in a 1993 interview, Bhutto stated that supporting proxy wars in Punjab and Kashmir was the "one right thing" undertaken by Zia, presenting these in part as revenge for India's role in "the humiliating loss of Bangladesh". In 1990, Major General Pervez Musharraf proposed a military invasion of Kargil as part of an attempt to annex Kashmir; Bhutto refused to back

8343-507: The purpose of seizing Jalalabad , which was then to be formed into a capital from which the country's anti-Soviet, Islamist-dominated opposition forces could operate. When the operation failed and the Pakistanis were driven out by the Afghan Army, Gul blamed Bhutto's administration for the failure, claiming that someone in her entourage had leaked details of the mission to the Afghan government. Gul

8446-507: The right-wing military administration; many senior military figures viewed her, like her father, as a threat to their dominant role in Pakistan's political arena. The country's three most powerful figures—the army chief Aslam Beg , the ISI chief Hamid Gul , and President Khan—all had contempt for her family. This opposition was substantial and contributed to Bhutto's inability to pass any major legislation during her first term in office. However, she had some successes with initiatives to encourage

8549-420: The total population. Languages with more than a million speakers each include Pashto , Sindhi , Saraiki , Balochi , Brahui , and Hindko . The Pakistani dialect of English is also widely spoken throughout the country, albeit mostly in urban centres such as Islamabad and Karachi . Pakistan officially endorses Islam as a state religion . The overwhelming majority of Pakistanis identify as Muslims , and

8652-491: The trial, relating that it was a kangaroo court and that Zulfikar did not receive a fair trial . Just before his execution, Zulfikar urged his wife and daughter to leave Pakistan, but they refused. He was executed by hanging in April 1979. Benazir and Nusrat were then imprisoned for six months, before being released and placed under house arrest for a further six months. The two women were only fully released in April 1980. After

8755-495: The war" against them. Bhutto succeeded in getting Khan's approval to change two of the country's four provincial governors; she appointed General Tikka Khan , one of the few senior military officers who were loyal to her, as the Governor of Punjab. She sought to replace the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, Iftikhar Ahmed Sirohey , but President Khan refused to permit this. Bhutto disliked Khan's hostile attitude toward her, but he had

8858-465: The women had become a South Asian tradition: Indira Gandhi in India; Sirimavo Bandaranaike in Sri Lanka; Fatima Jinnah and my own mother in Pakistan. I just never thought it would happen to me. — Bhutto on the impact of her father. In July 1977, Zulfikar Bhutto—who had just been re-elected in a general election —was overthrown in a military coup ("Operation Fair Play") led by Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq ,

8961-402: Was ousted in a military coup and executed. Bhutto and her mother Nusrat took control of the PPP and led the country's Movement for the Restoration of Democracy ; Bhutto was repeatedly imprisoned by Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq 's military government and then self-exiled to Britain in 1984. She returned in 1986 and—influenced by Thatcherite economics—transformed the PPP's platform from a socialist to

9064-422: Was "almost certainly the happiest, most carefree time of her life". At Oxford, she led a campaign calling for the university to give her father an honorary degree; she gained the support of her father's old tutor, the historian Hugh Trevor Roper . Bhutto's campaign was opposed by counter-protests, who believed that her father's supposed involvement in the persecution of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and atrocities during

9167-528: Was able, Bhutto visited her father in prison. She and her mother put out a book about their father and encouraged PPP supporters to demonstrate in support of him. She also assisted in the preparation of his defence case, which was put before first the Lahore High Court , which sentenced him to death, and then the Supreme Court , which upheld that decision. Former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark attended

9270-538: Was constitutionally obliged to invite Bhutto to form the next government, but was reticent to do so. Under growing pressure—including from the U.S., a key ally—he reluctantly did so two weeks after the election. To build her government, Bhutto formed a coalition with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party, which had 13 seats in parliament, an action that upset the Sindhi nationalist faction within her party. She

9373-457: Was economically feasible for her government to deliver. The country also faced a growing problem with the illegal narcotics trade, with Pakistan being among the world's largest heroin exporters and the drug's use rapidly increasing domestically. Bhutto pledged that she would take tough action on the powerful drug barons. Bhutto often argued with Beg, Gul, and Khan over her desired policies, and—according to Allen—"won some battles but ultimately lost

9476-400: Was five, her father became the cabinet minister for energy, and when she was nine he became the country's foreign minister . From an early age, she was exposed to foreign diplomats and figures who were visiting her father, among them Zhou Enlai , Henry Kissinger , and Hubert Humphrey . When she was thirteen, he resigned from the government and a year later established his own political party,

9579-528: Was free of the complexes and prejudices which had torn Indians and Pakistanis apart in the bloody trauma of partition." In 1974, she flew to Lahore to accompany her father at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation 's summit. Here, she met a number of the assembled senior Muslim world leaders, who included Libya's Muammar Gaddafi , Egypt's Anwar Sadat , Syria's Hafez al-Assad , Saudi Arabia's Faisal , and Jordan's Hussein . In autumn 1973, Bhutto relocated to

9682-530: Was hope among many observers that her premiership would mark a new era of multi-party democracy, growing gender equality, and better relations with India. She personally stated that her electoral victory was "the tipping point in the debate raging in the Muslim world on the role of women in Islam". In 1988, Bhutto published her autobiography, sub-titled Daughter of the East in its British edition and Daughter of Destiny in

9785-703: Was kept at bay by the administration of President Ronald Reagan . Over the coming few years, Bhutto made several additional visits to the United States, spoke to the European Parliament in Strasbourg , visited the Soviet Union , and undertook the Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca . While in exile, Benazir became a rallying point for the PPP. Her flat became the unofficial headquarters of its members in exile; these volunteers devoted themselves to raising international awareness of

9888-476: Was nevertheless much mutual suspicion among the parties in the MRD, with Bhutto having reluctantly allowed groups that firmly opposed her father's government to join. From abroad, her brothers, Murtaza and Shahnawaz, turned to paramilitary action, founding the Al Zulfikar group which trained its members to carry out acts of assassination and sabotage to oust Zia's military government. After Al Zulfikar orchestrated

9991-541: Was not. She was kept for a time in Karachi before being moved to Sukkur prison and then back again to Karachi. During much of this period, she was held in solitary confinement , and experienced a range of health problems, including hair loss, gynaecological issues, and anorexia . In December, she was moved into house arrest, where she would remain for two years. In the United States—a key ally of Zia's regime—Peter Galbraith helped rally support for Bhutto, including from

10094-433: Was released and returned to Europe. In December 1985, martial law was lifted in Pakistan and Bhutto decided to return home. She arrived at Lahore Airport in April 1986, where she was greeted by a large crowd. An estimated two million people came to see her speak at Iqbal Park , where she rallied against Zia's regime. She then visited Sindh, Punjab , and Balochistan , speaking to further crowds, and re-established links with

10197-569: Was scheduled to work at the Prime Minister's office and the "Inter-Provincial Council of Common Interests" during the rest of the summer. Intent on a career in the Pakistani Foreign Service , she was scheduled to take the service's entrance exams later in the year. Other women on the subcontinent had picked up the political banners of their husbands, brothers, and fathers before me. The legacies of political families passing down through

10300-528: Was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Pakistan on 2 December 1988. Bhutto became the first female prime minister in a Muslim-majority country, as well as Pakistan's second nationally elected prime minister. At 35 years old, she was the youngest elected leader in the Islamic world, the world's youngest prime minister, and the youngest female prime minister ever elected. After her election, party workers were encouraged to refer to her as Mohtarma ("respected lady"). There

10403-520: Was too powerful for Bhutto to force him into retirement, but in May 1989 she transferred him from the ISI to another section of the military, placing a more trusted military figure in his role. Bhutto initially attempted to improve relations with neighbouring India, withdrawing Zia's offer of a no-war pact and announcing the 1972 Simla Agreement as the basis of future relations. She invited Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and his wife Sonia as her guests for

10506-448: Was un-Islamic for a woman to govern, and unsuccessfully tried to have Pakistan suspended from the international Organisation of Islamic Cooperation on this basis. During her first premiership, Bhutto went on a number of foreign trips, enhancing her image as the first female prime minister in the Islamic world. In these, she sought to attract foreign investment and aid for Pakistan. She also made efforts to cultivate good relationships with

10609-551: Was un-Islamic for the country to have a female leader. Their propaganda foregrounded what they presented as her un-Islamic behaviour, including a photo of her dancing in a Parisian nightclub. Zia loyalists and Islamic fundamentalists united to form a new political party, Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI), which was funded by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The ISI also engaged in vote rigging in an attempt to secure an IJI victory. Despite these difficulties, Bhutto led

#2997