11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan (1953–2007)
Mohtarma
Benazir Bhutto
بينظير بُھٹو
Bhutto in 2006
13th Prime Minister of Pakistan
In office 18 October 1993 – 5 November 1996
President
Wasim Sajjad (acting) Farooq Leghari
Preceded by
Nawaz Sharif Moeenuddin Ahmad Qureshi (caretaker)
Succeeded by
Malik Meraj Khalid (caretaker) Nawaz Sharif
11th Prime Minister of Pakistan
In office 2 December 1988 – 6 August 1990
President
Ghulam Ishaq Khan
Preceded by
Muhammad Khan Junejo
Succeeded by
Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi (caretaker) Nawaz Sharif
Other political offices
Leader of the Opposition
In office 17 February 1997 – 12 October 1999
Preceded by
Nawaz Sharif
Succeeded by
Fazl-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
Preceded by
Nusrat Bhutto
Succeeded by
Asif Ali Zardari Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
Personal details
Born
(1953-06-21)21 June 1953 Karachi, Federal Capital Territory, Pakistan
Died
27 December 2007(2007-12-27) (aged 54) Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan
Manner of death
Assassination
Resting place
Bhutto family mausoleum
Political party
Pakistan People's Party
Spouse
Asif Ali Zardari
(m. 1987)
Relations
Bhutto family
Zardari family
Children
Bilawal
Bakhtawar
Aseefa
Parent(s)
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Nusrat Bhutto
Education
Radcliffe College, Harvard (AB)
Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford (BA)
St Catherine's College, Oxford (MSt)
Signature
Nickname(s)
BB
Iron Lady
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Benazir Bhutto[a] (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 the early 1980s until her assassination in 2007.
Of mixed Sindhi 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.
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letters running left to right or other symbols instead of Urdu script. BenazirBhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician and stateswoman...
BenazirBhutto International Airport (Urdu: بینظیر بھٹو بین الاقوامی ہوائی اڈے, ICAO: OPRN) is an airport which formerly served the Islamabad-Rawalpindi...
Minister BenazirBhutto. Released on bail, Murtaza successfully contested elections to the Sindh Provincial Assembly, becoming a vocal critic of Benazir and...
and remained so until her husband's removal in 1977. Her daughter, BenazirBhutto immediately succeeded her husband as the leader of the Pakistan Peoples...
inception in 1967. The Bhuttos have been settled in Sindh for over three centuries. Two members of the family, Zulfikar and BenazirBhutto, have been the Prime...
daughter of politician Murtaza Bhutto, sister of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Jr, niece of former Pakistani Prime Minister BenazirBhutto and granddaughter of former...
Bilawal belongs to the Bhutto family, a prominent political family of Pakistan and is the son of former Prime Minister BenazirBhutto and President Asif Ali...
his daughter BenazirBhutto serving twice as Prime Minister, and his son-in-law, Asif Ali Zardari, becoming president. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto belonged to...
Bhutto's four children, including the former Prime Minister of Pakistan BenazirBhutto. Shahnawaz was schooled in Pakistan (at the Aitchison College in Lahore...
Nusrat, and BenazirBhutto. Every year on the anniversary of BenazirBhutto's death, large crowds gather at the site. The Shaheed Bhutto Mazar Committee...
Nawaz served as the leader of the opposition to the government of BenazirBhutto from 1993 to 1996. He returned to the premiership after the Pakistan...
BenazirBhutto University may refer to: Shaheed BenazirBhutto City University in Karachi, Sindh Shaheed BenazirBhutto Dewan University in Karachi, Sindh...
after his marriage to BenazirBhutto in 1987, who became the Prime Minister of Pakistan after her election in 1988. When Bhutto's government was dismissed...
BenazirBhutto Hospital (Urdu: بینظیر بھٹو ہسپتال), also known as the Rawalpindi General Hospital, is a teaching hospital located on the Murree Road, Rawalpindi...
After the dismissal of BenazirBhutto's first government on 6 August 1990 by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan on grounds of corruption, the government of Pakistan...
Prime Minister BenazirBhutto. His term was abruptly ended by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan after his dismissal of Prime Minister Bhutto and successfully...
The first BenazirBhutto government was formed on 2 December, 1988 following general elections held in 1988. Due to the PPP only securing a plurality,...
tenure ended when President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dismissed Prime Minister BenazirBhutto's government in 1990 and he was succeeded by Mian Muhammad Azhar. He...
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Jr in 1990. Ghinwa has been estranged from the powerful Bhutto family ever since she accused her sister-in-law BenazirBhutto and her husband...
Ali Bhutto. He is younger brother of Fatima Bhutto and he is related to BenazirBhutto and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari through his father's side. He has lived...
held by BenazirBhutto of the PPP and Nawaz Sharif of PML(N), each holding the office for two non-consecutive terms between 1988 and 1999: Bhutto during...
approved by BenazirBhutto, which eventually led to his appointment in BenazirBhutto's key staff. In 1993, Musharraf personally assisted BenazirBhutto to have...
General Nigar Johar attaining the highest military post for a woman. BenazirBhutto was sworn in as the first woman Prime Minister of Pakistan on 2 December...
more than 162 Muhajirs. The massacre resulted in the dismissal of the BenazirBhutto government by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, allegedly on the orders of...
Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST), founded in 1995 by former Prime Minister BenazirBhutto, operates a campus in...