On a very hot day, June 21, 1953, the members of the nursing home staff, including the family, were overjoyed at the birth of the baby girl at Pinto’s Nursing Home in Karachi.
The father called his first child ‘Pinky’ and the mother ‘Baby’ before the name was kept, in the records of the institution, the name of the girl was recorded as Benazir Bhutto, which was named after the girl’s (late) aunt.
Benazir Bhutto’s father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto belonged to the elite family of sSoutheastern Pakistan province of Sindh. His first marriage was in 1943 to Shereen Amir Begum and in September 1951 he married his second wife Nusrat Bhutto, an Iranian lady of Kurdish descent.
Nusrat Bhutto hailed from Isfahan, Iran, and graduated from Karachi University. Zulfiqar and Nusrat Bhutto had four children, besides Benazir, Mir Murtaza, Sanam Bhutto and Shahnawaz Bhutto.
Benazir received her early education at Lady Jennings Nursery and then at the Convent of Jesus and Mary Karachi. She then studied at the Rawalpindi Presentation Convent for two years, after which she was sent to the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Murree.
In December 1968, 15-year-old Benazir Bhutto passed the O-Levels examination with distinction. In April 1969, she was sent to Red Cliff College, Harvard University, USA for an undergraduate degree in political science.
According to Brooke Allen’s book “Favorite Daughter”, published in the United States in 2016, Benazir was too young to be admitted to the university, but the influential Zulfiqar Bhutto “shook the strings” and finally secured her admission to Harvard University. John Kenneth Gail Braith, a professor of economics (and later the US ambassador to India) was appointed Benazir’s mentor.
Benazir found life in the United States very difficult, and according to the book, a university friend said that Benazir “spent most of the first semester crying.”
But then she became social secretary at her hostel, Elite House, at Harvard, and, like her father, Benazir, who was interested in foreign affairs, was active in the campaign against US involvement in the Vietnam War at the time.
According to Shyam Bhatia’s book, Goodbye Princes, published in 2008 by an Indian-born British journalist and Brooke Allen, it was during his Harvard student days in 1971 that Zulfiqar Bhutto visited the United Nations on the Pak-India war issue. When he arrived in New York to represent Pakistan at the Security Council, he invited Benazir there.
Through such training opportunities, Zulfiqar Bhutto explained to Benazir the mysteries and secrets of foreign affairs.
First Overseas attention
In 1972, Benazir Bhutto reappeared with her father in the Pakistan-India talks. This time she arrived in India to attend the famous Shimla Accord ceremony, where she was introduced to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for the first time.
This was the turning point of his political training under the constant guidance of Zulfiqar Bhutto when he got the attention of Indian media including radio and newspapers.
At such a young age, Benazir Bhutto herself expressed this press attention to herself in her own words: “I was a symbol of a new generation. I was born in independent Pakistan. That is why I was free from all the complications and prejudices that had separated Indians and Pakistanis as a result of the bloody tragedy and trauma of the Partition of India.
After graduating from Harvard in 1973, Benazir went to Lady Margaret Hall College, Oxford University in the United Kingdom to study philosophy, politics and economics, from which she was able to succeed in the second class. At his father’s insistence, he also received a postgraduate degree in international law and diplomacy from St. Catherine’s College, another Oxford University institution.
According to Shyam Bhatia, she lived in Oxford as a traditional third world princess but also made many friends. According to some friends, she was a ‘cheerful but curious’ person.
In 1974, Benazir had the opportunity to meet Muslim leaders such as Muammar Gaddafi, Anwar al-Sadat, Shah Hussein and Shah Faisal as she attended the OIC summit in Lahore with her father.
Higher education at institutions such as Harvard and Oxford and meetings with world leaders at an early age further enhanced Benazir Bhutto’s political training.
In 1977, Benazir Bhutto was elected president of the Oxford Union. She was the first Asian woman to hold the post. Although the members of the organization originally came from Oxford University, the independent body had nothing to do with the university.
Benazir Bhutto
In addition, Benazir was active in the Conservative Association, a subsidiary of the Conservative Party, Britain’s current ruling and conservative party.
Despite the traditional tensions between India and Pakistan (still), she kept in touch with Indian students during her student days at Oxford. According to Shyam Bhatia, at the same time, he was offered marriage by two Pakistani fellow students, but both times he turned down the offer.
After graduating from Oxford in June 1977, she returned home with the intention of serving in the ‘Inter-Provincial Council of Common Interests’ set up in the office of her father and the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfiqar Bhutto, and the Pakistani office. She will also take part in the competitive examination for employment abroad, but politics and Pakistan’s army … Something else had been decided.
On July 5, 1977, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the Chief of Army Staff, overthrew Zulfiqar Bhutto and seized power. Martial law was enforced in the country, and political leaders, writers, journalists, and intellectuals, including anyone who had the slightest suspicion of speaking out against the military or its seizure of power, were arrested. Can
Zulfiqar Bhutto was also arrested but was released after mass protests.
When Zulfiqar Bhutto was arrested again on September 16, 1977, he sent Benazir’s brother Mir Murtaza out of the country, but both Nusrat Bhutto and Benazir remained in the country.
Zahid Hussain, the (former) chief photographer for Pakistan and Afghanistan for the British news agency Reuters, was close to the Bhutto family in the 1970s.
In an interview with BBC, Zahid Hussain recalled that when General Zia overthrew the Bhutto government, Nusrat Bhutto came to Clifton (residence of Bhutto family in Karachi) with children. Delegations used to come there all the time to express sympathy and support. So many people came that it was not possible for Nusrat Bhutto alone to meet everyone. She wanted some people to meet Murtaza and Benazir Bhutto instead.
One day when the delegation came, Nusrat Bhutto told me to call the baby from the library. Only Bhutto used to call Benazir Pinky, otherwise Begum Sahiba, all the members of the house, employees and we also used to call Benazir Bhutto Baby.
At the request of Begum Sahiba, I went to the library. She was sitting there reading a book. The camera was on my shoulder. She was surprised to see me coming so casually into this interior of the house. Obviously only family members could go there. He looked at me intently from top to bottom and asked (in broken Urdu) ‘Are you a photographer of equality?’
‘isaid Yes… So she said that I am also interested in becoming a journalist. Then she said, “Tell Mumy that I am coming.”
Benazir Bhutto
This was the time when Benazir Bhutto emerged as the future leader of the party and became the most popular political face of the party. She and Nusrat Bhutto continued to organize demonstrations and protests against General Zia and whenever they had the opportunity to meet Zulfiqar Bhutto in jail.
Photographer Zahid Hussain says that when Benazir met Bhutto in Kot Lakhpat Jail in February 1978, he called us (Zahid Hussain and Masawat reporter Inayat Hussain) and said that Papa (Zulfiqar Bhutto) had said that his visit to Sindh had started. Do it and take the equals with you, then you have to leave in the morning. ‘
At that time Qaim Ali Shah was the provincial president of the party in Sindh. He said that Bibi should not be in such a hurry. Even the people cannot be told till morning. Similarly, the martial law authorities are arresting the workers. If the people do not gather, how can there be a gathering? ‘
According to Zahid Hussain, Benazir remained adamant on her program. “No, just go,” Benazir said. At Thatta, there were only 15 to 20 women in a house. After addressing them, they went to other houses and there were 30 or 35 people there. He gave a speech but was in a bad mood. Didn’t eat well either. We took pictures of both the gatherings but Begum Sahiba called the office of Masawat not to give her much display, she is left now. What will happen if something is said upside down?
The editor (Khalid Alig) just posted a picture and the news was published very little. When we arrived the next morning, the baby was very angry. One was a small number of people yesterday and now a picture and a little news in the newspaper. When we entered, Qaim Ali Shah was also sitting in the corner. As soon as the baby saw us (with a big sarcastic satire in English) he said to us, ‘Less my princes, less … Come sit down (come, come my prince … come sit).
There was a paper of equality. He picked it up, twisted it, made it into a ball and threw it at both of us. They said, ‘Is this my status in your eyes? There is a picture, 15 girls are also standing with me. Did I go there to see the girls? ‘
Then came the time when the military government arrested Nusrat and Benazir Bhutto and both were imprisoned in different cities.
Zulfiqar Bhutto was tried for the murder of Muhammad Ahmad Khan Kasuri, the father of his political opponent Ahmad Raza Kasuri. The Lahore High Court sentenced him to death and the Supreme Court upheld the sentence. On April 4, 1979, Zulfiqar Bhutto was hanged.
Before the execution, Zulfiqar Bhutto asked both Nusrat Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto to leave the country, but they both refused. Following the execution, Benazir and Nusrat Bhutto were again arrested for six months. Upon their release, they were placed under house arrest for another six months and were released in April 1980.
In this most difficult practical politics, the hardships of incarceration and the harsh environment of martial law, the ‘different attitudes and roles of one’s own’, along with Benazir Bhutto’s strong political training, created the impression in her personality that she Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online.
Eventually, the mother and daughter succeeded in forming an alliance with several political parties in February 1981, called the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD).
Murtaza Bhutto and Nusrat Bhutto
Internal conflict within the party
A review of the newspapers at the time revealed that Benazir’s brothers Mir Murtaza and Shahnawaz Bhutto, who had fled the country at the time of her father’s arrest, were allegedly seeking revenge for their father’s overthrow during their stay in Afghanistan. He formed an organization called ‘Zulfiqar’ which included members of PPP and its affiliated student organization PSF.
The organization took the path of armed struggle for resistance and on March 2, 1981, claimed responsibility for hijacking PIA flight PK-326 bound for Peshawar.
Benazir Bhutto condemned the hijacking of the plane and a clear division within the party over Zulfiqar’s politics, strategy and tactics became apparent until Benazir and Murtaza Bhutto came face to face.
After the hijacking, Benazir and Nusrat Bhutto were arrested again in March 1981. Nusrat Bhutto was released in July 1981 after suffering from cancer, but Benazir remained in prison.
He was imprisoned in Sukkur and Karachi jails and was sometimes kept in solitary confinement. These hardships of incarceration severely affected his health.
In December 1981, his residence was declared a “sub-jail” and he was placed under house arrest, and an old friendship came to him. It was Peter Gail Braith, son of his mentor John Kenneth Gail Braith at Harvard, who was then attached to the US State Department as a diplomat.
When General Zia visited Washington in 1982, Peter Gail Braith pressured General Zia from Rhode Island to support Benazir Bhutto through influential American politicians such as Senator Clay Bourne Peel and influential American jurist and politician James Buckley. As a result, the government of Pakistan agreed to release him in January 1984, but after his release he was deported to Geneva.
She arrived in London from Geneva, where she had previously undergone a spinal cord surgery. During the MRD movement, Benazir and Nusrat Bhutto were injured by a police baton charge during a protest, and the surgery was probably the result of which Benazir moved to a rented flat in the Barbican area.
According to Brooke Allen, the traumatic events that followed her arrival in the UK had left her traumatized. They would jump at the sudden noises around them or disturb the people around them with the suspicion that no one was watching them.
To overcome this state of mind, he started a series of meetings with friends, shopping, dinner and going to the cinema which proved to be really helpful.
During her stay in London, Benazir’s residence became the headquarters for exiled members of the party who kept the world informed of the “repression” of General Zia’s government against political opponents. She also became central to the PPP, but there were still two obstacles to her being accepted as the party’s leader without the participation of others.
Benazir Bhutto
In one party, the PPP will become a fiefdom of the Bhutto family because of these fears of Zulfiqar Bhutto’s allies, the ‘Uncles’, and in the other, his own brother, Mir Murtaza Bhutto, who believed that Zulfiqar Bhutto’s real political heir was not Benazir. Rather, they are themselves.
Senior PPP leader Farhatullah Babar says Benazir was very intelligent and that Zulfiqar Bhutto knew it. Bhutto had trained him and considered him as his political successor. Despite living in the traditional society of Sindh, he was sent out to study at an early age and his charisma was noticed. Bhutto did not differentiate between son and daughter and Benazir also proved that she was worthy of it.
Mysterious death of Shahnawaz Bhutto
Less than a year and a half after Benazir’s arrival in London, she was shocked by the death of her 27-year-old brother Shahnawaz.
Shahnawaz Bhutto, 27, was found dead in a mysterious situation in his flat in Nice, France in July 1985.
Surprisingly, General Zia’s government allowed Benazir Bhutto to bring Shahnawaz Bhutto’s body to Pakistan for burial and she arrived in Pakistan in August for her brother’s funeral but was arrested again soon after the burial in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh. He was placed under house arrest in Karachi. Upon her release in November 1985, she returned to Europe.
Repatriation
On December 30, 1985, when General Zia announced the abolition of martial law, Benazir Bhutto decided to return home. By giving up, Pakistan’s powerful army and the state’s decision-makers, the Establishment, have compromised. This was also the position of his brother Murtaza Bhutto.
When Benazir Bhutto returned home on April 10, 1986 to be a part of the political process, she was given a lavish and historic reception in Lahore which was attended by millions of people.
After this illustrious reception and spectacular political victory, Benazir made stormy tours across the country and garnered tremendous political support but was once again arrested and imprisoned in Karachi’s Landhi Jail.
Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari
When he was released, he started his political activities but at the same time he started a new life by marrying Asif Ali Zardari on December 18, 1987. According to the books written on him, it was an ‘arranged marriage’ and Asif Zardari was Nusrat Bhutto’s choice.
Meanwhile, as a result of non-partisan elections in Pakistan, Muhammad Khan Junejo was elected Prime Minister, but on May 29, 1988, General Zia dissolved Muhammad Khan Junejo’s government, including the National and Provincial Assemblies, in the wake of the Ojri camp tragedy.
According to the newspapers, General Zia had also received information that Benazir was now ‘pregnant’ and with this in mind, elections were announced to be held in November 1988, at which time Benazir Bhutto would be in the very last days of her pregnancy. Will not be able to be more active.
According to Shyam Bhatia, General Zia did not want Benazir Bhutto to win the elections and reach the houses of power but General Zia himself was killed in an air crash near Bahawalpur on August 17, 1988 and after this accident the Supreme Court of Pakistan Decided that the November elections would be held on a party basis.
Success in spite of all difficulties
On September 21, 1988, several months before the birth of Benazir Bhutto’s first child and the current co-chairman of the party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
According to world-renowned journalist and author Christina Lamb’s book “Waiting for Allah”, although Benazir separated from MRD, she ran the PPP’s election campaign and economic ideology in favor of the PPP’s traditional (Islamic socialism) in favor of the free market. Deviating from the ideology of the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher also tried to adopt the ideology of ‘Thatcherism’.
But it was a sign of the party’s popularity that the PPP received applications from more than 18,000 candidates in anticipation of a landslide victory.
According to Shyam Bhatia, General Zia’s views and supporters of the introduced Islamic system also formed a major political alliance, the Islamic Democratic Alliance (IJA), led by Nawaz Sharif against the PPP.
According to Shyam Bhatia, the Pakistani establishment, led by (then) ISI chief General Hamid Gul, also provided financial support to this anti-Benazir political alliance. But despite all these difficulties and reasons, Benazir Bhutto was elected the first woman Prime Minister of Pakistan on November 16, 1988.
On December 2, 1988, Benazir was sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan for the first time. According to Brooke Allen, she was a ray of hope for Pakistan’s intelligentsia, and so does Ghazi Salahuddin, a prominent Pakistani journalist and intellectual.
Speaking to the BBC, Ghazi Salahuddin said: “For the first time that day, there was hope that Pakistan would now be on the path to enlightenment, progress and success.”
Religious inclination
Ghazi Salahuddin calls Benazir a symbol of enlightened Pakistan, but some of her critics used to call Benazir Bhutto, who was educated in the United States and Britain, a ‘superstitious’ for her regular visits to shrines and courts of saints.
Farhatullah Babar says that Benazir, like ordinary women, used to visit the shrines and courts of the saints regularly. “It was not a sham or a political ploy. She used to visit these shrines and courts with great devotion and respect.
Benazir Bhutto
According to her, Benazir had promised that if Asif Zardari was released, she would visit the shrine in Ajmer and she left.
Farhatullah Babar also narrated an incident. According to him, “I had a very old relationship with Mustafa Shah, a numerologist. In late July 1990, Shah Sahib told me that while I was drawing a horoscope like this, on August 6, the star of President Ghulam Ishaq Khan was looking very high. You tell Bibi. ‘
“Probably on July 28 or 29, when I met my lady, I mentioned to her that a scholar had given such a warning, and Bibi asked in amazement, ‘Really?’
And then on August 6, Ghulam Ishaq Khan sacked Benazir Bhutto’s first government. The lady who used to call me FB instead of Farhatullah Babar, specifically asked me ‘FB! Who was it that warned you beforehand that something bad was about to happen? Now go and ask him what’s next for me, what’s going to happen now? ‘
Farhatullah Babar said, “When I met Shah Sahib again, I told him about Bibi’s reaction. Shah Sahib also wanted to give me Imam Zaman for them. I told Bibi that Shah Sahib was giving ‘Imam Zaman’ for you, I don’t know if you believe or not, then he rolled up his sleeves and showed me that Imam Zaman was already tied on my hand. Is.’
However, photojournalist Zahid Hussain’s conversation shows that Benazir did not have much inclination towards religion at an early age.
God-fearing and good-natured humanbeing
According to Farhatullah Babar, Benazir Bhutto was a very God-fearing and virtuous person.
According to him, when General Zia-ul-Haq’s wife died, she was the Prime Minister and he asked his military secretary (General Zia’s son) to contact Ijaz-ul-Haq. Ask them out well if they are no longer absorbed in the connection. Ask if General Zia’s family wants to bury him in any special place except Faisal Mosque.
Farhatullah Babar says, “It takes a lot of patience to do such a thing to the one who overthrew his father and carried him to the gallows.”
Benazir
, IMAGE SOURCEGETTY IMAGES
Farhatullah Babar said, “She was a poor man. Ordinary workers could approach them. When someone approached them, they would hug the women in torn old clothes and this was not a pretense, they would meet people from the bottom of their hearts. When you pretend or act, you know. ‘
“It simply came to our notice then. As an interpreter when I would write his speech in Roman. So think a lot, one word, one sentence, continuity, fluency, everything. She used to do homework. Once in my written speech came the word ‘however’ which must have been difficult for them. She tried to prepare for a while but then a time came when she got angry and stood up angrily and in the same rage she said to me ‘FB! What is ten, however? However.
Then she threw away the papers I had picked up and she walked away in a state of extreme boredom saying, ‘I don’t have time now. I can’t do it now, however. ‘
“I picked up the papers and left. In the evening he sent me a silver cup as a gift at home and also sent me a note with an autograph on one of his pictures. If she was angry, she would cure him. ‘
According to Farhatullah Babar, Benazir was very convinced of respect for women and private life. “Once someone told them in front of everyone that someone was spreading the wrong thing about them in a very rude way, then one of the people in the party told Bibi that we have videos of the person who is insulting. ? He spoke about the videos three times. The first and second time, Bibi remained silent, but the third time, she scolded the person talking about the videos and said, ‘Do you want someone to enter your bedroom? Would you like it? ‘
Murtaza, Nusrat and Benazir
But her critics also question why she snatched the party from her brother and mother if she was God-fearing.
Mir Murtaza Bahan, who was deported in September 1977, did not return even during her first term. Pakistani officials have accused Mir Murtaza of being involved in terrorist activities, including the hijacking of a PIA plane.
On the other hand, the struggle for political inheritance between Mir Murtaza and Benazir continued in full swing. Murtaza Bhutto, Benazir and Asif Zardari were accused of deviating from party ideology as well as corruption. On August 6, 1990, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan fired his government over similar allegations of corruption and nepotism.
But Benazir Bhutto became the Prime Minister of Pakistan again in the October 8, 1993 elections. On October 18, 1993, when Murtaza Bhutto returned home from his home constituency of PS31, Larkana, after being elected as a member of the Sindh Assembly, he was arrested on terrorism charges.
When he was released, he used to openly criticize Murtaza Bhutto, Benazir and Asif Zardari in an attempt to consolidate his political power over his sister. Be it a press conference or a procession, Mir Murtaza never stopped sharply criticizing Benazir’s policies, style of politics and alleged corruption.
Only then did the hardline elements of the party develop the idea that in fact Mir Murtaza should be the political successor of Zulfiqar Bhutto. This internal political conflict became so intense that even Nusrat Bhutto herself put her weight behind Murtaza Bhutto and continued to support Murtaza Bhutto instead of Benazir.
As a result of the same infighting within the party, on January 10, 1994, Benazir Bhutto finally succeeded in removing her mother from office and was elected party leader herself. Continued until
After the assassination of Benazir Murtaza Bhutto
Farhatullah Babar says: “There is no doubt, it is 100% true that Nusrat Bhutto’s tendency, weight and liking were all towards Mir Murtaza Bhutto, but when Nusrat Bhutto got memory due to Alzheimer’s disease. When the issue arose, the question arose in the party that what would happen if the situation worsened?
Therefore, at the suggestion of some objectors, BB became the chairperson. Some people had no objection to Mir Murtaza becoming the head of the party but some people also had objection so this progress was made.
“It took time to remove the objections raised against Mir Murtaza Bhutto during the time of General Zia, so BB became the chairperson.”
Farhatullah Babar also claimed that Murtaza Bhutto had also started approaching Benazir Bhutto in recent times and she was very happy about it.
Murtaza Bhutto once came to the Prime Minister’s House on a child’s birthday. When they started to go back, Bibi herself went out to see them off. Bibi was very happy when they left. By the way, she used to call me FB, but that day she took my full name in her emotions and said, ‘Oh, Farhatullah … IM Absolutely Delighted (Farhatullah, I am very happy today.) You will believe that Murtaza came to my house. We had such a great evening. Then he raised his hands and prayed that no one would look bad.
According to Farhatullah Babar, Benazir was deeply in love with her family, parents and siblings and when Murtaza Bhutto was assassinated, she arrived at the hospital as the Prime Minister of Pakistan in a condition where she had no slippers on her feet and no scarf on her head.
Even Nusrat Bhutto was devastated when she did not recognize him once because of Alzheimer’s.
“Bibi even entrusted me with the task of recording her mother’s memoirs. FB, you take the time to ask her everything, spend time on tea over food and record her memory.” Whenever she remembered Zulfiqar Bhutto, her eyes would get wet
