Benazir BhuttoMartyr for Democracy

By: Mackenzie B.

Early Life

• Born on June 27, 1953, in Karachi, Pakistan

• Parents: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Begum Nusrat Ispahani Bhutto

• Led a very privileged childhood

• Gifted with enabling parents– Her father was a great

advocate for democracy and human rights

Education

• Entered Harvard at 16

• Earned B.A. at Radcliffe in 1973

• Studied at Oxford after Harvard

• Awarded a second degree in 1977

• First Asian woman president of the Union

A Profound Influence

• Her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, served as president and prime minister of Pakistan from 1971 to 1977

• Believed in equality of men and women

• Imprisoned by military days after her arrival home

• Assassinated on the morning of April 4, 1979

Path to Prime Minister

• After her father’s death, Ms. Bhutto worked towards her mother becoming the prime minister

• Her mother became very ill with lung cancer, and was also developing Alzheimer’s

• With her mother being ill, Benazir found the whole party (Pakistan People’s Party) was about to collapse, so she stepped in

• It finally struck her that “looking after” her mother meant that she would become the prime minister

A Dream Realized• In 1988, at the young age of

35, Ms. Bhutto became prime minister of Pakistan

• She was the first woman to hold such an office in an Islamic state

• That dream, however, was short-lived; she was illegally ousted in 1990, having served only half of her full term

• In 1993 she returned and won a second election, but again was illegally dismissed in 1996

Exile

• Ms. Bhutto’s brother, Mir Musrtaza, leveled charges of corruption at her husband, Asif Ali Zardari

• Her husband was imprisoned• She and her children lived in self-

imposed exile for nine years• They lived in London, New York, and

Dubai, where she continued to advocate the restoration of democracy in Pakistan

Return to Pakistan• In 2007, amid death threats and the hostility of the

government, she returned to her native Pakistan• Benazir’s husband, Asif, and their two daughters remained in

Dubai• On October 18, 2007, Ms. Bhutto stepped off the plane and

onto Pakistani soil, overcome with emotion• Benazir’s husband’s requests for bulletproof vehicles had been

denied, as well as many other provisions to keep her safe• From the beginning of the caravan, a group of brave, unarmed

young men in white T-shirts surrounded her truck and held hands, making a human shield to protect her with their bodies

• Mere hours after arriving in Karachi, a suicide bomber attacked her motorcade; she survived the first assassination attempt, but more than 100 bystanders were killed

Martyrdom

• National elections were scheduled for January of 2008, where Benazir was poised for victory where she would once again become prime minister

• Only a few weeks before the election, December 27, 2007, extremists struck again; after a campaign rally in Rawilpindi, a gunman fired at her car, shooting her in the neck

• She fell back into the vehicle and a bomb detonated almost immediately, killing the gunman himself and more than 20 bystanders

• Ms. Bhutto was rushed to the hospital, but soon succumbed to injuries suffered from the attack

Conclusion

During her time as prime minister, Ms. Bhutto accomplished many things:– Brought electricity to the

countryside– Built schools all over the

country– Made hunger, housing, and

health care her top priorities

She truly was an inspiration. Her death is a devastating loss to her country and cause, but her memory will live on, and she will be remembered as one of the most courageous and determined people of our time.