Benazir Bhutto’s 72nd Birth Anniversary Today

Today is the 72nd birth anniversary of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s first female prime minister. People across the country are celebrating her life by holding cake-cutting ceremonies in different cities. These events are a way to remember her services for democracy and her great sacrifice for Pakistan.

Benazir Bhutto was born on June 21, 1953, in Karachi. She was the daughter of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and was lovingly called “Pinky” by her family. She studied at Harvard and Oxford universities and often travelled with her father on important foreign visits.

After her father’s arrest and execution in 1979, Benazir and her mother, Nusrat Bhutto, took control of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). She started her political struggle against the military rule of Zia-ul-Haq and was sent into exile. When she returned to Lahore in 1986, millions of people warmly welcomed her.

In 1987, she married Asif Ali Zardari. After winning the 1988 general elections, she became Asia’s first female prime minister. Her government was dismissed in 1990, but she returned to power in 1993 for a second term, which also ended in 1996.

Benazir came back to Pakistan in 2007 and began her election campaign. Sadly, on December 27, 2007, she was martyred in a terrorist attack after a rally in Rawalpindi. She is remembered as the Daughter of the East and the Martyr of Democracy, a brave leader who will always be respected in Pakistan and around the world.