November 17: On This Day in World History … briefly

1988:  Bhutto becomes first woman leader of Pakistan

Benazir Bhutto becomes the first woman leader of an Islamic country in the first democratic elections in Pakistan for 11 years. Her Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), while falling short of an absolute majority, required the backing of only 12 out of 40 independent MPs to form a government.

Benazir’s father, Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto, was the country’s leader from 1971 until he was deposed by a military coup headed by General Zia in 1977; two years later he was hanged. His daughter inherited the People’s Party leadership and was a thorn in the side of the military regime until Zia’s death in an air crash in August 1987.

Bhutto was a controversial figure. She was often criticised as being politically inexperienced and corrupt, and faced much opposition from Pakistan’s Islamist lobby for her secularist and modernising agenda. In the early years of her career she was nevertheless domestically popular and also attracted support from Western nations, for whom she was a champion of democracy. Posthumously, she came to be regarded as an icon for women’s rights due to her political success in a male-dominated society.

The Pakistani politician served as Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996. She was the first woman to head a democratic government in a Muslim majority nation. Ideologically a liberal and a secularist, she chaired or co-chaired the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) from the early 1980s until her assassination in 2007.

Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.

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