Benazir Bhutto was born as the eldest child in her family. She and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari had three children, two daughters and a son. She had dreams of becoming a writer. Benazir was against war and she placed great importance on health, social issues and housing. She was always fighting against discrimination of women. But this would be where the similarities between Benazir and myself come to a grinding halt.(Quote from Bhutto during BBC interview)
"I want to be remembered for what I did for women. My identity comes ultimately from being a woman and I felt that my life has to make a difference to the lives of other women so in terms of population control or in terms of exposing domestic violence or in terms of permitting women easy access to credit to start business of their own, I have always done my best to allow women to succeed."
Benazir attended Harvard at 16 and was only 26 when her father was executed by public hanging. She had two brothers. One was killed suspiciously in France in 1985, the other in a gory police shootout in 1996. In between the deaths of her brothers she was voted "One of the 50 most beautiful people in the world" by People magazine in 1993. I can't help but wonder what she would have thought of that. She spent five years imprisoned, most of which was in solitary confinement and after two terms as Prime Minister of Pakistan, she fled the country to escape false corruption charges. Bhutto lived abroad for eight years during which time her husband was in jail though he was never convicted of any charge. She could have remained a free woman, living a life of luxury and comfort but this past October, in keeping with her vow to continue her father's work, she chose to return to Pakistan for another valiant attempt at leading the Pakastanis towards democracy and better lives.
Bhutto was assassinated on December 27th during a political rally in Rawalpindi, just two weeks before the general election was to take place. Benazir Bhutto would have been an excellent grandmother given the opportunity.
She was only 54.
1 comment:
Thank you, Leslie for expressing this information in a concise way. I had not done the homework required to obtain her background and I now have a greater understanding. Well done. I imagine that you are going to write your grandchildren many thoughtful and memorable stories.
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