When Benazir Bhutto became the first Muslim women to govern the country in modern times under the middle 16th 1988, the glamorous young politician was seen as a fresh alternative to the entrenched corruption and abuse of power that characterized Pakistan’s military dictatorship but the fairy tale begin at a tragic ending.
The daughter of Pakistani political royalty Benazir Bhutto’s child had included closed contact with prominent people with the side of her father Zulfikar; Pakistan’s Prime Minister.
When she was 18, her father became leader of Pakistan. Bhutto herself left the country to attend Harvard and Oxford Universities but in 1977, General Zia seized power in the military coup while Zulfikar was sentenced to death and hanged two years later. Bhutto herself spent 5 years in jail, much of them in the solitary confinement.
These circumstances shaped Bhutto’s attitude and directed her destiny.
In 1984, she was allowed to leave the country on military ground and moved to England where she became a leader in exile of her father’s political party; the Pakistan Peoples Party, taking over from her mother Nusrat.
In 1988, she was elected Prime Minister of Pakistan but was forth from office twice when her political opponents attempted to discredit her and her husband. Fellow politician, Asif Ali Zardari.
Benazir Bhutto: Democracy has never been given a chance to grow in Pakistan. As an example I was allowed only five of the ten years to which the people of Pakistan had elected me to govern. Today, the crisis has not only continued but it has dangerously accelerated not only in Pakistan but for the region and the wide world community.
The suppression of democracy in my homeland has had profound institutional consequences, the major infrastructural building blocks of democracy have been beckoned. Political parties have been marginalized, NGOs dismantled, judges sacked and civil society undermined.
Labor unions have seen great retrenchment to weaken them and student unions too have been banned. So we don’t have the emergence of a generation of leaders trained in the Universities for the political art of debate, discussion, give and take, and compromise.
Following news in exile, Bhutto began secret torch with Pakistan’s Military Government in 2007 which culminated in her return to Pakistan on October the 18th of that year. It was a triumphant outcome and there was a wave of popular support. Bhutto appeared to be a strong contender in the upcoming general elections but on December the 27th 2007, terrorist suspected to be connected to Al-Qaeda, assassinated Bhutto. The death left a political vacuum that many felt could only be filled by someone from the Bhutto family.
In the short term, her husband has taken leadership with the Pakistan Peoples Party but there is strong support for their eldest son, 19 year old Oxford student Bilawal to take the reign as soon as he finishes his degree.
Many countries condemn the Bhutto’s assassination. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, he said the best response to her death would bet to build a strong and democratic Pakistan.
Gordon Brown: This atrocity strengthens a resolve that terrorist will not win there, here or anywhere in the world. And we will work with all of the Pakistani community in Britain and else where in world so that we can have a peaceful and safe and democratic Pakistan.
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