Benazir Bhutto

Title & tenure

11th and 13th Prime Minister of Pakistan (1988–1990, 1993–1996)

In office: 1988 – 1996

Predecessor:

Muhammad Khan Junejo (1st term); Nawaz Sharif (2nd term)

Successor:

Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, caretaker (1st term); Malik Meraj Khalid, caretaker (2nd term)

Biography

Benazir Bhutto, the Oxford- and Harvard-educated daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, took over leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party after her father's execution, led the party to victory in the 1988 election following Zia's death, and became the first woman to lead the government of a Muslim-majority country.

Achievements

• Became the first woman elected head of government in a Muslim-majority country, in 1988
• Laid informal groundwork for the later 2006 Charter of Democracy cooperation with Nawaz Sharif's camp, part of a broader (if troubled) move toward inter-party democratic cooperation
• Expanded girls' education and women's development programmes during her terms in office

Key events

• Led the PPP to victory in the 1988 general election following Zia-ul-Haq's death
• Dismissed by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan in 1990 on corruption and incompetence charges
• Returned to power after winning the 1993 election
• Dismissed again by President Farooq Leghari in 1996, again over corruption allegations, including against her husband Asif Ali Zardari
• Assassinated at a campaign rally in Rawalpindi on 27 December 2007, shortly after returning from exile to contest the 2008 election

Legacy

Benazir Bhutto remains one of the most internationally recognized Pakistani political figures, celebrated for breaking gender barriers in Muslim-majority politics, though both her governments were cut short by presidential dismissal amid corruption allegations, and her life ended in assassination.

How it ended

Assassinated by a gunman and suicide bomber at a PPP rally in Rawalpindi on 27 December 2007, during her campaign for a third term; her husband Asif Ali Zardari succeeded her as PPP leader.