Forum Pakistan

Bhutto, Benazir (1953- 2008)
Politician. Twice Prime Minister of Pakistan. She is the daughter of former Prime Minister Z.A. *Bhutto. After completing her early education in Pakistan, she attended Radcliffe College and Oxford University. As well as obtaining a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, she also took a course in International Law and Diplomacy at Oxford.
On 2 December 1988 Benazir Bhutto was elected as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islamic State.

Benazir Bhurto, first female head of the state of a Muslim country. Prime Minister (1988-90) and 1993-96).
In the preceding decade of political struggle she was arrested on numerous occasions. In all she spent nearly 6 years either in prison or under detention for her political policies in opposition. She was twice ousted from the office of prime minister first in 1990, and then from 1993 to 1996. Her husband, A.A. Zardari gained a reputation for corruption, and her own dealings with the MQM caused her political career considerable harm. She has been kept out of politics by a decree that no one can be prime minister of Pakistan for more than two terms of office. At the time of writing this entry, she is in exile from Pakistan.
She received the Bruno Kreisky Award for Human Rights in 1988 and the Honorary Phi Beta Kappa Award from Radcliffe in 1989.

WORKS: 'Foreign Policy in Perspective' (1978); 'Daughter of the East' (1988).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dianne Sansevere-Dreher; 'Benazir Bhutto', New York, 1991; Iqbal Akhund, 'Trial and Error: The Advent and Eclipse of Benazir Bhutto', Karachi, 2000; Muhammad Ali Shaikh, 'Benazir Bhutto', Karachi, 2000.