Remembering Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007)

SUPPORTERS OF BENAZIR DURING A RALLY AFTER HER DEATH

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto occurred on December 27, 2007 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Bhutto, twice Prime Minister of Pakistan (1988–1990; 1993–1996) and then-leader of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party, had been campaigning ahead of elections due in January 2008. She was shot at after a political rally at Liaquat National Bagh; a suicide bomb was detonated immediately following the shooting.

When audiences around the globe hear Benazir Bhutto's dramatic story of democracy and deposal, they are awed by the tireless strength with which she struggles to bring freedom to the people of her country. As the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto is a living icon of the battle for democracy, and stands with only a handful of female executive leaders who have shaped the global events of the last century.

First elected Prime Minister at the age of 35, Ms. Bhutto became the youngest Chief Executive Officer in the world and the first female Prime Minister in the Muslim world. After just 20 months in office, her government was unconstitutionally dismissed by a rival political party. Undeterred, she was reelected as Prime Minister in 1993. During her terms of office, she was faced with an enormous challenge: how to effectively govern a poor, politically fractious, and ethnically diverse nation.

Served as first female prime minister of a Muslim country, Prime Minister Bhutto was praised for moving swiftly to restore civil liberties and political freedom, suspended under military rule. She launched a nationwide program of health and education reform. She was named one of seven winners of the UN human rights prize. She has also been mentioned as "The world's most popular politician" in the New Guinness Book of Record 1996. The "Times" and the "Australian Magazine" (May 4, 1996) have drawn up a list of "100 most powerful women" and have included Benazir Bhutto as one of them.