Benazir Bhutto: Address at the Fourth World Conference on Women

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Benazir Bhutto:Address at the Fourth WorldConference on Women
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Abstract

The first woman to lead a modern Islamic country, Benazir Bhutto (1953–2007) was elected prime minister of Pakistan in 1988. Bhutto became the head of the Pakistan People’s Party when her father, Zulfikar Bhutto, who had founded the party and led Pakistan from 1971 to 1977, was executed in 1979. After the death of the previous prime minister, Benazir Bhutto was elected to the first of her two terms in 1988 and served until her defeat in the election of 1990. Her second term lasted from 1993 to 1996. Bhutto represented liberal, secular interests, which put her at odds with more traditional politicians and those who supported increased militarization. She is still regarded as gaining support from both Pakistani Muslims and non-Muslim Westerners, regardless of her policies. Toward the end of her second term, she faced charges of corruption and was forced into exile after a hostile takeover in 1999. Eventually a new administration granted Bhutto amnesty and allowed her to return to Pakistan in October 2007, but she was assassinated soon after, on December 7, at a public appearance there in Rawalpindi, Punjab.

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