Benazir Bhutto

Pakistani former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a suicide attack on December 27, 2007. Ms Bhutto – the first woman PM in an Islamic state – was leaving an election rally in Rawalpindi when a gunman shot her in the neck and set off a bomb.

Like the Nehru – Gandhi family in India, the Bhuttos of Pakistan are one of the world's famous political dynasties. Benazir's father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was prime minister of Pakistan in the 1970s.

Benazir Bhutto, the eldest child of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was born on June 21, 1953 at Karachi. She completed her early education in Pakistan. Having passed her GCE O-Level at 15 years, she got admission to Harvard University Radcliffe College in the US in April 1969. After graduating from Harvard University with a degree in Political Science, in June 1973, she joined Oxford University.

As well as obtaining a degree in P.P.E. (Politics, Philosophy and Economics), she also completed a course in International Law and Diplomacy. She excelled in studies as well as other activities, including debating competitions. She was the first Asian woman to be elected president of the Oxford Union.

Benazir returned to Pakistan in 1977 planning on entering the foreign service. However, shortly after, military officers led by General Zia-ul-Haq overthrew Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in a coup. Benazir spent the next 18 months in and out of house arrest as she struggled to rally political support to force Zia to drop fallacious murder charges against her father. The military dictator ignored worldwide appeals for clemency and had Zulfikar Bhutto hanged in April 1979.

Repeatedly put under house arrest, Benazir was finally imprisoned under solitary confinement in a desert cell in Sindh province during the summer of 1981. Released in 1984, she went into exile in Britain until 1986, when martial law was lifted in Pakistan. She returned to Pakistan, attracting huge crowds to political rallies.

On December 2, 1988, Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islamic state. She served as Prime Minster from 1988 – 1990, and again from 1993 – 1996. While in office, she brought electricity to the countryside, built schools all over and made hunger, housing and health top priorities.

On both occasions in office she was dismissed by the president for alleged corruption. Benazir's husband was imprisoned and once again she was forced to leave her homeland. Benazir steadfastly denied all corruption charges, which she said were politically motivated. None of the charge has been proved in court. For nine years she and her children lived abroad in exile.

In October 2007, in the face of threats, she returned to her country, after President Musharaff granted her an amnesty from the charges. She was greeted by enthusiastic crowds. Within hours of her arrival her motorcade was attacked by a suicide bomber. She survived, although over 100 bystanders died in the attack.

Finally, on December 27, a gunman fired at her car fatally wounding her and then detonated a bomb killing himself and a number of bystanders.