Benazir Bhutto (1953 - 2007)
Memorial to Bhutto at the site of her assassination
December 2nd 1988: Bhutto sworn in
On this day in 1988, Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as the eleventh Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of a Muslim state. Daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, former Prime Minister and founder of the Pakistan People’s Party, Bhutto was educated at Harvard University and Oxford. She returned to Pakistan in 1977, the same year that a military coup toppled her father’s popularly elected government; Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was later hanged, and Benazir took over leadership of the PPP. The coup resulted in a military dictatorship under General Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, forcing Bhutto and the PPP into exile. However, Bhutto returned to Pakistan in 1986 to push for open elections. Two years later, Zia ul-Haq was killed in a plane crash, and Bhutto was elected to the premiership that December. As Prime Minister, Bhutto’s tough stance with trade unions and other rivals earned her the nickname ‘Iron Lady’, in homage to Margaret Thatcher in Britain. Her government was defeated in the 1990 election amid allegdations of misconduct, but Bhutto was re-elected in 1993. However, her administrated was dismissed in 1996 by President Leghari on charges of corruption, for which she was convicted two years later. In 2007, Bhutto returned to Pakistan having received amnesty from President Musharraf, though immediately was faced with threats and attempted assassination. On December 27th of that year, while campaigning for the general election at a rally in Rawalpindi, Benazir Bhutto was killed by an assassin, who also detonated a bomb which killed almost thirty others. Bhutto is significant for her role in Pakistan’s opposition politics, as well as her status as Pakistan’s only female Prime Minister.
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