Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s charismatic, young, attractive, and visionary leader was assassinated seventeen years ago on 27th December 2007 at Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi, she was affectionately called by people of Pakistan as “charon subbon ki zanjir, Benazir Benazir”.
At the time, she was one of the most high-profile women leaders in the world.
Born in 1953 in Karachi Benazir’s early and high school education was aligned with the British educational system and having achieved the grades she went on to study at Oxford and Harvard. She was reluctant to become a politician instead she wanted to pursue a career in foreign services.
Her father was a democratically elected Prime Minister. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was overthrown by a brazen coup d’etat conducted by his own Army Chief Ziaul Haq on July 5th, 1977. Zia was a brazen and cruel dictator draped in religious saviour disguise. In 1979 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged by the military government of General Zia Ul Haq. Benazir Bhutto’s political career began from that tragic turn of history, triggering the beginning of her long arduous struggle.
Benazir Bhutto was imprisoned just before her father was hanged in April 1979. She spent the next five years of her youthful life in solitary confinement and in extremely hard physical conditions, in which her health suffered considerably. She was finally permitted to leave the country for medical treatment in 1984. During exile, she set up the Pakistan People's Party office in London and began a campaign against General Zia whilst demanding a restoration of the 1973 constitution.
Spearheaded by the Peoples Party it was joined by many other democratic parties and groups and snowballed into the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy, the MRD. When she returned to Pakistan in 1986, she was given an unprecedented welcome by an ocean of people.
At 35, she became one of the youngest prime ministers in the world, and the first woman prime minister to lead an Islamic country. She was twice elected, once from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1996. Both times she was “dislodged “through the establishment’s machinations.
She was never “given” the political space or “granted” the right to rule although she was overwhelmingly elected by the people. Her first tenure lasted only 18 months and her second term was for three years. Even within these short time spans she managed to initiate several people-centric policies and programmes.
She launched the People’s Poverty Reduction Program, which aimed to provide financial assistance, vocational training, and healthcare services to marginalised and impoverished people, with a focus on empowering women. Her government prioritized education and health sectors improving access to quality education and healthcare services.
Her government increased budgetary allocations for education and health, established a network of new schools and hospitals, particularly in rural areas, and implemented policies to promote education for girls. She created enabling environments for NGOs, both national and international, to function. During her tenure women were appointed to the Superior Judiciary. Amongst many such initiatives, she also enabled the recruitment of 50,000 lady health workers.
Benazir Bhutto established the First Women's Bank and inaugurated several “women-only” police stations for the first time in Pakistan. She once said: “I have not seen a women’s police station in any other country. It was an idea that grew in my mind while meeting women and questioning them about why they silently faced humiliation. I found they felt doubly punished when they had to live an ordeal and repeat it in front of men. The reason for their implementation was the social taboos where women believed that if they talked about being raped, beaten up, abused, or robbed they were bringing shame upon their family. Thus women never had the backing to go public with their miserable situation.”
BB as she was affectionately referred to, led an unusual and extraordinary life. On the one hand, it was full of personal tragedies: she buried all the male members of her family, her father, and her two brothers. All were killed in the prime of their lives
Benazir was a visionary stateswoman. During her two tenures in office, the PPP government focused on regional trade with neighboring countries. It introduced and enabled the travel of special groups of people, including parliamentarians to each other’s countries and the lowering of tariffs on goods which later was enshrined as the South Asian Preferential Tariff Agreement.
Despite various charges and politically motivated investigations with handpicked prosecutors and judges cases against Benazir Bhutto and her husband could not be proved. Not a single charge could hold up in court. In spite of vicious (sponsored) media campaigns, and propaganda funded by ordinary taxpayers, Benazir Bhutto’s public appeal did not diminish ever.
BB as she was affectionately referred to, led an unusual and extraordinary life. On the one hand, it was full of personal tragedies: she buried all the male members of her family, her father, and her two brothers. All were killed in the prime of their lives. Her youngest brother Shahnawaz was poisoned to death and Mir Murtaza was murdered when she was prime minister.
She once mentioned in an interview: “I raised my children as a single mother when my husband was arrested and held for eight years without a conviction — a hostage to my political career. I made my choice when the mantle of political leadership was thrust upon my shoulders after my father’s murder. I did not shrink from responsibility then, and I will not shrink from it now.”
BB proved herself a loving and caring daughter by looking after her ailing mother, Nusrat Bhutto, who had gone through the worst and most tragic period of her life: her husband’s cruel death at the gallows, the murder of her two young sons, she was imprisoned, treated cruelly by the martial law regime; facing all this Begum Nusrat Bhutto’s struggle for the restoration of democracy is exemplary, that is why people remember her “Madar-e Jamhoorat”.
Whilst looking after her family Benazir and managing her party Pakistan Peoples Party in exile, she was also facing a ruthless and shameful media trial by sponsored and biased media.
Gen. Musharraf’s rule of nearly 9 years was another black chapter in the history of Pakistan. Elections were rigged, the media was censored, “enforced” disappearances became the norm and a vicious victimisation of political opponents was initiated. A military operation in Baluchistan was also launched and veteran and popular Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti was assassinated in a targeted military operation.
When Musharaf could no longer contain public anger Benazir announced her return to Pakistan “I am returning to Pakistan on October 18th to bring change to my country. Pakistan’s future viability, stability, and security lie in empowering its people and building political institutions. She said: “My goal is to prove that the fundamental battle for the hearts and minds of a generation can be accomplished only under democracy”.
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto will always remain a global icon. Her unprecedented struggle for democracy, people’s empowerment, social justice, elimination of extremism, and poverty is an inspiration for women and men across the globe, and will always be remembered as a ‘Peoples Leader’. She has left a remarkable and indelible legacy behind for the downtrodden and that legacy has proudly been carried forward by PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.