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“Clearly, it’s not easy for women in modern society, no matter where they live. We still have to go the extra mile to prove that we are equal to men. We have to work longer hours and make more sacrifices. And we must emotionally protect ourselves from unfair, often vicious attacks made on us via the male members of our family.”
Benazir Bhutto
The First Lady to Head an Islamic Nation, the first woman to have given birth while in office, a lady known for championing the cause of women empowerment and one who led the fight against a patriarchal society. This was the life of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister – Benazir Bhutto. Known for her illustrious political career and tragic life, Bhutto is now widely remembered as an icon – one who broke through the shackles of an oppressive society and carved her name in Pakistani, as well as the world’s history. Sadly, she was assassinated on this very day, the 27th of December, 14 years back in 2007. Scroll down to unveil the inspiring and tragic story of Benazir Bhutto.
Benazir Bhutto – The First Lady to Lead an Islamic Nation
On 21st June, 1953, Benazir Bhutto was born to the prominent politician Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his Iranian wife Begum Nusrat Bhutto (née Ispahani). Benazir was the eldest of four children and had two younger brothers – Murtaza and Shahnawaz Bhutto and a younger sister Sanam Bhutto. The Bhutto ancestry boasted of numerous politicians and members who had been honoured by the erstwhile British-Indian government as well. Benazir’s grandfather Shah Nawaz Bhutto was also a prominent politician of his time and served as the Prime Minister of the Junagadh State. Benazir’s life, from very early on itself, was quite extraordinary and remarkable. Majority of her childhood was spent amongst foreign diplomats and prominent political figures (some of whom were Zhou Enlai, Henry Kissinger and Hubert Humphrey), thus cultivating a keen sense of political understanding in her from a very young age itself. Soon after, Zulfikar Bhutto resigned from the government and formed his own party, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). During the reign of President Ayub Khan, Zulfikar was imprisoned for 3 months in 1968, but he continued to write to his daughter, encouraging her to continue her studies.
(Left) – Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (Right) – Zulfikar and Nusrat Bhutto
Not long after, Benazir made her towards Radcliffe College, Harvard University, to pursue an undergraduate degree. She was 16 years old at the time, which was much younger than the accepted age at the university. However, her father pulled some strings and secured a seat for her at Harvard, where she majored in Comparative Government. A few years later, in 1973, Benazir relocated to the UK and began pursuing a second undergraduate degree at the University of Oxford. She now decided to major in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. During the gap between her two majors, Benazir visited Simla, India, as part of the official Pakistani delegation to the India-Pakistan summit, in 1972. Her mother had fallen ill, and Benazir took her place and accompanied her father to India. It was here, that for the first time, Benazir attracted substantial attention from both, local and national Indian press. Later on, when she was asked how she managed to garner so much attention, Benazir said –
“I symbolised a new generation. I had never been an Indian. I had been born in Independent Pakistan. I was free of the complexes and prejudices which had torn Indians and Pakistanis apart in the bloody trauma of partition.”
Benazir Bhutto
June 28th 1972, Shimla – Zulfikar Bhutto shakes hands with Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, as Indian Foreign Minister Swaran Singh (right) and Benazir look on (second from the right)
However, things took a turn for the worse in the late 1970s, when Zulfikar Bhutto’s Chief of Army Staff, General Zia-ul-Haq turned against him. Barely a year after his appointment as the Chief of Army Staff, Zia decided to capitalise on Bhutto’s growing unpopularity and hatched an elaborate coup d’état. From 5th July 1977 onwards, Zulfikar Bhutto was imprisoned and held in detention several times, under General Zia’s rather controversial militaristic reign that would go on for 10 more years. Finally, a 5-month trial commenced in order to determine Zulfikar Bhutto’s hand in the murder of a political rival’s father, which in Benazir’s words was a ‘complete farce of a trial’. The trial ended with the High Court of Lahore declaring Zulfikar Bhutto not guilty of murder, but still sentenced him to death. Bhutto was given an opportunity to appeal in the Supreme Court, but refused because, in Benazir’s words, he was acutely aware of Zia’s intent to execute him and knew that no number of appeals could save him now.
Nursrat Bhutto, when she heard of her husband’s execution
In an interview, decades after her father’s execution, Benazir spoke about how she and her mother begged her father to appeal one last time. And thus, a final appeal was lodged in the Supreme Court, which yet again went against the Bhutto family’s prayers. Finally, almost 2 years after his first arrest, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hung at the Rawalpindi Central Jail, on 4th April, 1979, at the age of 51. Benazir, in her autobiography, recalls how her last meeting with her father lasted for barely half an hour. The regime refused to open the prison doors despite the fact that this would be their last meeting. Benazir hugged her father through the bars and bid him goodbye one last time, only to be informed the next morning that his body had already been taken to the Bhutto family’s mausoleum, Garhi Khuda Baksh, and been buried. Benazir and her mother arrived at the mausoleum site hours later, and were given some time alone at Zulfikar’s grave, after much begging.
The trouble, however, was far from over. In fact, it had just started brewing. During her father’s numerous imprisonments, Benazir and her mother were constantly detained for short terms. After Zulfikar’s execution, the two were imprisoned for six months, before being placed under house arrest for an additional 6 months. It was during these countless imprisonments and detentions that Benazir and Nusrat’s health took a hit. Her mother was let out in July 1981 so that she could receive medical attention for her cancer, abroad. Benazir, though, was kept under strict surveillance and was constantly shifted back and forth, from Karachi to Sukkur prison. Majority of these imprisonments were spent in solitary confinement, and this had an adverse effect on Benazir’s health. She experienced a number of gynaecological issues, hair loss and anorexia too. Post this, she was placed under house arrest for another 2 years, before international pressure mounted, forcing Zia to release her in 1984.
Benazir in a rare photograph
Benazir was soon on the next flight out to Geneva, from where she made her way towards the United Kingdom. For the next two years, Benazir Bhutto made several visits to USA, undertook a holy pilgrimage to Mecca, attended and spoke to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, and visited the USSR as well. Her flat in the UK became an unofficial headquarter for the PPP. Benazir experienced a lot of discontent from the senior party members because of her gender. Many, including her brother Murtaza, thought her to be incapable of leading a party and strongly believed that Zulfikar intended for Murtaza to be his heir. Nevertheless, Benazir held her stand and continued to lead the party. Another tragedy struck the Bhutto family when in 1985, her youngest sibling and brother, Shahnawaz Bhutto passed away in Cannes, France, under highly mysterious conditions. It was widely suspected that he was poisoned, and that his wife Raehana had a role to play in it. However, after being in police custody for a while, she was declared not guilty and released, due to lack of evidence.
Benazir’s youngest sibling – Shahnawaz Bhutto was found dead at the age of 26, in France
Finally, General Zia’s government allowed Benazir to return to Pakistan to bury her brother’s body in Larkhana at the family’s cemetery. In 1985, after martial law was lifted in Pakistan, Bhutto returned to her country for good and was greeted by a large crowd. However, yet again, she was arrested and detained several times. In her personal life, it was around this time that Bhutto agreed to marry her future husband Asif Ali Zardari, who would go on to become the President of Pakistan in 2008. A year after her marriage, Benazir became pregnant with her first child, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Zia-ul-Haq now finally decided to call for fresh elections in the month of November. However, three months before the scheduled elections, General Zia died in a rather mysterious air crash. The elections went ahead as planned and the PPP swept them. On 2nd December 1988, a 35-year-old Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as the second nationally elected Prime Minister of Pakistan. This feat made her the first female Prime Minister of a Muslim-majority nation, the world’s youngest Prime Minister, the youngest elected leader in the Islamic world and the youngest female Prime Minister to have ever been elected.
(Left) – Benazir’s Wedding with Asif Zardari; (Right) – Benazir Bhutto with her three children
Thus began Benazir’s first term as Pakistan’s Prime Minister. During her election campaigns, Bhutto had made major promises to the Pakistani public. Some of these included building a million new homes every year, and ensuring that basic public health care and education would be available to all, irrespective of their financial standing. However, Benazir was unable to fulfil most of these promises due Pakistan’s poor financial state at the time. General Zia had almost emptied the treasury and made the country bankrupt by borrowing high interest loans to pay government wages. Benazir faced a number of challenges during her tenure because of her comparatively secularist ideology. The conservative forces of Pakistani politics continued to rally against her because they believed that it was ‘un-Islamic’ for a woman to head a country. These forces insisted on Pakistan following an orthodox Islamic theocracy, a move that Bhutto’s government vehemently opposed.
Here’s a short video of one of the speeches made by Benazir Bhutto after her return to Pakistan in 2007. Notice how energised and enthusiastic the crowd is.
[Source – AP Archive]
Soon enough, the situation turned sour. Benazir Bhutto’s government was accused of corruption. Her husband, Asif Ali was nicknamed “Mr. Ten Percent” courtesy of the several headlines that accused of him of bribery. Benazir also experienced a huge lash back because she allowed her husband to attend cabinet meetings, despite the fact that he wasn’t a part of the government. The last nail in the coffin was when the opposition heard of Benazir’s second pregnancy. In her autobiography, Benazir writes how the opposition leaders pressured the President into sacking her from the post of Prime Minister, stating that she would be incapacitated during her delivery period and that the state machinery would break down. A day before the opposition was to meet the President with a detailed call for strike action, Benazir went into a Caesarean delivery and gave birth to her daughter Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, in 1990. Only later did she realise, that this made her the first woman to give birth while in office. In August that year, seven months later, Bhutto’s government was dismissed by then-President Ghulam Ishaq Khan.
(Left) – Benazir Bhutto (Centre) – Murtaza Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto made a comeback soon enough, when in the 1993 general elections the PPP won, and she began her second term as Prime Minister of Pakistan. However, much of her second term was filled with numerous charges of corruption, with many foreign investigations being carried out. In 1996, Transparency International, a German-based non-profit whose aim is to combat global corruption, ranked Pakistan as the world’s second most corrupt country. Another blow in her second term came in the form of her brother, Murtaza’s, return to Pakistan. The relationship between the brother-sister duo worsened as many members of the PPP recognised Murtaza as Zulfikar’s rightful heir. The spat between Murtaza, and Benazir’s husband Zardari, became increasingly intense and reached its peak when Murtaza Bhutto, along with seven others, was killed in a police ambush near Karachi. As Pakistan’s economy worsened and unemployment and inflation rates rose, Benazir Bhutto’s government was dismissed for the second time in 1996. The situation worsened as Zardari, her husband, was arrested and imprisoned on charges of money laundering and also due to his suspected involvement in Murtaza’s death. He was released almost 8 years later, in 2004.
Pervez Musharraf – Pakistan’s 10th President
Benazir Bhutto now decided to go into a self-imposed exile. The then-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had a very bitter relationship with Bhutto. However, Bhutto, aided by significant US intervention, managed to negotiate a deal to return to Pakistan, in 2007. In October of that year, Benazir finally stepped foot in her country, after almost 8 years. In the general elections that were to be held that year, Benazir was the favoured candidate to become the country’s next Prime Minister. During one of her ongoing campaigns in Karachi, two bombs exploded killing 149 and injuring around 402 people, but Bhutto managed to escape, unharmed. Post this, she requested special security from US’s FBI and UK’s Scotland Yard, but Musharraf denied this request. As the relations between Bhutto and the President soured, Bhutto was warned against returning to Pakistan, with three assassination attempts already having been carried out on her previously. However, she was persistent.
Bhutto’s last day, 27th December 2007, at the political rally in Rawalpindi’s Liaquat National Bagh
On the afternoon 27th December 2007, Bhutto was just leaving Rawalpindi’s Liaquat National Bagh in a bulletproof vehicle, after delivering a speech at a PPP rally, when she stood up through her vehicle’s open hatch to wave at the massive crowd gathering around her. Suddenly, three shots were fired at her from a proximity of two to three metres and a bomb detonated, killing 23 people, on the spot. One of the most shocking and eerie coincidences, only to have been realised later on, was that it was on this very ground that Liaqat Ali Khan, Pakistan’s first Prime Minister, was assassinated 53 years ago. Benazir’s chief doctor, who attempted to (unsuccessfully) revive her in her vehicle, was in fact the son of Liaqat Ali Khan’s chief doctor, who had also attempted to do the same 5 decades ago (again, in a desperate, yet failed attempt)! It was later found that the suicide bomber was a 15-year-old boy, who went by the name Bilal. Bhutto was rushed to the hospital, and several attempts at resuscitation were also performed, but she was declared dead on arrival. The doctors were unable to ascertain whether the death was caused due to the gunshot wounds or due to the shrapnel from the explosion. The al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the assassination, although several also suspected the hand of the Pakistani Taliban in it.
“We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat the mujahideen.”
Al-Qaeda commander Mustafa Abu al-Yazid
The last few seconds leading up to the shooting and the subsequent bombing. The shooter and suicide bomber can be seen in the second slide (swipe left)
And thus ended the tumultuous life of Benazir Bhutto, at the age of 54. She was interred next to her father, the very next day, in the family mausoleum at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, Larkana. Although Benazir had a significant number of blotches and errors inscribed next to her name, she is now chiefly remembered as a pioneering lady – one who fought many battles in her life and emerged victorious, ensuring that no one would question a woman’s capabilities henceforth.
I leave you here, with a few lines spoken by Benazir, in an interview around 20 years back –
If I had a wish to make – I’d wish for stability in my life. I’d wish for no more heartaches… for no more tragedies. Sometimes I feel as though my shoulders are too frail to have carried as much tragedy as they have.
Benazir Bhutto
Sources:
Benazir Bhutto assassination: How Pakistan covered up killing – BBC
Goodbye Shahzadi: A Political Biography of Benazir Bhutto (2008) – Shyam Bhatia
Benazir Bhutto: Favored Daughter. Icons Series – Brooke Allen
Getting Away with Murder: Benazir Bhutto’s Assassination and the Politics of Pakistan – Heraldo Muñoz
Getting Away with Murder: Benazir Bhutto’s Assassination and the Politics of Pakistan – Fakhar Zaman
Daughter of the East: An Autobiography – Benazir Bhutto
Rendezvous with Simi Garewal Benazir Bhutto Part 1 & 2 – YouTube