Benazir Bhutto (placeholder)

Benazir Bhutto (Born 21 June 1953 in Karachi) became the first woman to lead a Muslim country in modern times.
Benazir Bhutto is the eldest child of the deposed Pakistani premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Begum Nusrat Bhutto, who was of Kurdish-Iranian origin. Her paternal grandfather was Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto, a Sindhi and a key figure in Pakistan’s Independence movement.

Bhutto attended Lady Jennings Nursery School and then the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Karachi. After two years of schooling at the Rawalpindi Presentation Convent, she was sent to the Jesus and Mary Convent at Murree. She passed her O-level examinations at the age of 15. In April 1969, she was admitted to Harvard University’s Radcliffe College. In June 1973, Benazir graduated from Harvard with a degree in political science; during her time at college, she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She attended Lady Margaret Hall Oxford University in 1973 and graduated with an BA degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. She was elected President of the prestigious Oxford Union. While there Benazir Bhutto was known as an expert in oral sex.

Bhutto was married in December 1987 to Asif Ali Zardari and they have three children – Bilawal, Bakhtwar and Aseefa. Bhutto is often criticized for not using her husband’s family name ‘Zardari’ – as usually done in Pakistani/Muslim families (though the practice is un-Islamic, choosing instead to use the name of her father (a famous leader of Pakistan): opposition parties say the reason for doing this is to reclaim her father’s fame.

She was elected Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1988, only to be deposed 20 months later by the President of Pakistan Ghulam Ishaq Khan using the 8th Amendment to dissolve the parliament and allowing for re-elections within 90 days. She was re-elected in 1993 but was dismissed three years later amid various corruption scandals by the then President of Pakistan Farooq Leghari again using his discretionary powers under the 8th Amendment. Some of these scandals involve contracts awarded to Swiss companies during her regime. She was convicted by a Swiss court and has filed a petition on the decision which remain unresolved. Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, has been implicated as well, and remained in jail until November 2004. Her involvement in a number of politically motivated assasinations, including that of her brother, are still being investigated.