You will rarely read anything about politics on my blog, but today is an exception.
I have just spent the last three hours reading about a woman who some radicals would like to see killed before she can bring reform to a Muslim country. There is so much to be said about Benazir Bhutto, her accomplishments are many and her sufferings long and intense. Many Americans may be wondering who is this woman who was the target of a bombing just two days ago in Pakistan. Benazir Bhutto is a living icon of the battle for democracy, standing with only a handful of female executive leaders who have shaped global events of the last century.
Ms. Bhutto was first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1988 at the age of 35 making her the youngest world leader. She served her second term as prime minister in 1993 at the age of 40. Bhutto was the leader of the Pakistan People’s Party from July 1977 until 1988. She had been imprisoned under deplorable conditions for many long years, witnessed the hanging of her father in 1979 and then exiled.
Even while exiled, Bhutto continued to lead the resistance against the military regime in Pakistan, mobilizing world public opinion on behalf of the restoration of democracy to her people. She has been arrested nine times and held in detention or in prison for more than five-and-a-half years
As prime minister Bhutto acted forcefully to restore constitutional freedoms, lifted the ban on students’ and trade unions imposed under the military dictatorship and immediately restored freedom to the press and agreed to separation of the judiciary from the executive. During her 20 months as prime minister, the government built 8,000 public and secondary schools and electrified 4,600 villages throughout the country.
Bhutto was born in Karachi, Pakistan on June 21, 1953, the eldest daughter of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He was Pakistan’s first elected prime minister, known for his socialism and benevolence, promising to provide everyone with “roti, chapra and makan” (food, clothing, shelter). Bhutto attended both Harvard and Oxford. She is an author of two books: Foreign Policy in Perspective (1978) and Daughter of Destiny (1988). Incidentally, People Magazine has included her in a list of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. And she is also listed as one of the 50 women who have changed the world. Also included in that list are Catherine the Great, Queen Victoria, Susan B. Anthony, Marie Curie, Mother Teresa, Rosa Parks, and Indira Gandhi.
October 18, 2007. Before boarding a flight from Dubai to Karachi, Benazir told a news conference she hoped “to fulfill the aspirations of the great people of my country who deserve a better future than they have had in the past.” She was with two of her three daughters and her husband, Asif Zardari, who was jailed eight years in Pakistan after Benazir lost power in 1996. Even with the threat of violence she said, “I do not believe that any true Muslim will make an attack on me because Islam forbids attacks on women, and Muslims know that if they attack a woman they will burn in hell.”
Nevertheless, an attempt on her life did take place. In a news conference yesterday, Bhutto blamed al-Qaida and Taliban militants for the assassination attempt against her that killed at least 136 people, and declared she would risk her life to restore democracy in Pakistan and prevent an extremist takeover. She presented a long list of foes who would like to see her dead — from loyalists of a previous military regime that executed her politician father to Islamic hard-liners determined to stop a female leader from modernizing Pakistan.
