Benazir Bhutto بینظیر بھٹو |
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12th Prime Minister of Pakistan | |
In office 19 October 1993 – 5 November 1996 |
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President |
Wasim Sajjad Farooq Leghari |
Preceded by | Moeenuddin Ahmad Qureshi |
Succeeded by | Malik Meraj Khalid |
In office 2 December 1988 – 6 August 1990 |
|
President | Ghulam Ishaq Khan |
Preceded by | Muhammad Khan Junejo |
Succeeded by | Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi |
Leader of the Opposition | |
In office 17 February 1997 – 12 October 1999 |
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Preceded by | Nawaz Sharif |
Succeeded by | Fazal-ur-Rehman |
In office 6 November 1990 – 18 April 1993 |
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Preceded by | Khan Abdul Wali Khan |
Succeeded by | Nawaz Sharif |
Chairperson of Pakistan People's Party | |
In office 12 November 1982 – 27 December 2007 |
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Preceded by | Nusrat Bhutto |
Succeeded by |
Asif Ali Zardari Bilawal Bhutto Zardari |
Personal details | |
Born |
Karachi, Sind, Pakistan |
21 June 1953
Died | 27 December 2007 Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan |
(aged 54)
Cause of death | Assassination |
Resting place | Bhutto family mausoleum, Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, Pakistan |
Political party | Pakistan People's Party |
Spouse(s) | Asif Ali Zardari (1987–2007) |
Relations |
Bhutto family (by birth) Zardari family (by marriage) |
Children |
Bakhtawar Bilawal Asifa |
Parents |
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (father) Nusrat Bhutto (mother) |
Alma mater |
Harvard University University of Oxford |
Religion | Islam |
Signature |
Benazir Bhutto (Sindhi: بينظير ڀُٽو; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan and the leader of the centre-left Pakistan Peoples Party. She was the first woman to head a Muslim majority nation.
Born in Karachi, her father, Zulfikar, went on to serve as Pakistan's prime minister in the 1970s. Benazir was educated at Harvard and at Oxford, also serving as the first Asian woman to preside over the Oxford Union. After the 1977 military coup which overthrew her father's government, Benazir along with her family were repeatedly placed under house arrest. After her father was hanged in 1979 Benazir, along with her mother Nusrat, went on to lead the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy while still under house arrest. In 1984 Benazir, along with her family, left for London where she resided until 1988. After her return, Benazir successfully led the People's Party through the 1988 election.
After winning support from a coalition government in the national assembly, Benazir assumed the Prime Minister's Office in December 1988. Benazir however struggled to maintain control over power, marked by political and economic instability. Benazir's government was dismissed on August 7, 1990 by the then President who accused her administration of corruption and nepotism. Benazir went on to once again lead her party through the 1990 election, however failed to win a parliamentary majority. Later in 2012, Pakistan's Supreme Court would rule that the 1990 election was rigged by Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in favour of the conservative Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI). Despite electoral fraud, Benazir served as the Leader of the Opposition until the conservative government was also dismissed in 1996 over charges of corruption.