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This is part of our review of the issues and events that occurred in the past few months. This time we will be concentrating on Benazir Bhutto, the life, the assassination, and the aftermath of her death. Benazir Bhutto is important because her life and her death gives us a glimpse into a country in turmoil, very much like The Philippines. However, Pakistan is a nuclear nation and is central in the fight against terrorism. Their country is not a democracy as their current leader, Pervez Musharraf would have the world believe. And it is the assassination of Benazir Bhutto that is the perfect symbolism of the crossroad their nation faces and the affect that Pakistan has on the rest of the world.

Benazir Bhutto: The Life

The Bhutto name is well known in Pakistan, their’s is a political dynasty which started in the early 70’s with the rise of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the father of Benzazir Bhutto.

Benazir was born on June 21, 1953. in Karachi, Pakistan. After early education in Pakistan, she attended attended Radcliffe College at Harvard University (1969 to 1973) obtaining a BA in comparative government. From 1973 and 1977 Bhutto studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Oxford, during which time she completed additional courses in International Law and Diplomacy. She was also elected president of the Oxford Union.

On December 18, 1987, she married Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi (arranged marriage). The couple had three children: Bilawal, Bakhtwar and Aseefa.

Benazir Bhutto’s father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was removed from office following a military coup in 1977 and was subsequently charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was sentenced to death under martial law, he was hanged on April 4, 1979.

In 1985, Benazir Bhutto’s brother Shahnawaz was killed under suspicious circumstances in France. The killing of another of her brothers, Mir Murtaza, in 1996, contributed to destabilizing her second term as Prime Minister.

Benazir returned to Pakistan after her studies and during the imprisonment of her father. She was imprisoned just before the death of father, where she was in solitary confinement for five years. She was later exiled to the UK, but would come back to Pakistan, and on November 16, 1988, Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) won the majority and she became the Prime Minister of a coalition government two weeks later.

Bhutto became one of the youngest individuals to be head of government (35 y/o) and the first woman to head the government of a Muslim-majority state. Bhutto’s government was dismissed in 1990 under charges of corruption, a charge which would plague the rest of her political career. Although she was never tried, Nawaz Sharif still came into power after the October 1990 elections.

But elections were once again held in October of 1993 at which time, her PPP again won the majority thus returning her back to office. Again in 1996, because of corruption scandals, Bhutto was dismissed by then-president Farooq Leghari, who used the Eighth Amendment discretionary powers to dissolve the government. The Supreme Court affirmed. Indeed, both her terms in office were marred with accusations of corruption, it didn’t help that she had made enemies with the powerful and elite, including those in military.

Accusations of government contracts, kickbacks, and offshore accounts in many countries continued well after her term in office. Both her husband and herself continued to deny these accusations.

Bhutto tried for re-election in 1997 but failed, giving way to Nawaz Sharif who was later overthrown by the military and gave rise to the man leading Pakistan now, Pervez Musharraf.

Bhutto’s husband, Asif Zardari was imprisoned after her fall from office and she along with her children were exiled and lived in London. Bhutto continued to advocate democracy in Pakistan, she also gave lectures around the world. After years of imprisonment, Benazir’s husband was released on bail because of weak evidence against him. Benazir would later be given amnesty under a deal with Musharraf.

In October of 2007, despite numerous death threats and a hostile Musharraf-led government, Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan.

On December 27, 2007 just weeks before the elections in Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto would be dead.

tags: Asif Zardari, benazir bhutto assassination, benazir bhutto, pakistan politics, zulfikar ali bhutto