Objectify This

Benazir Bhutto was catapulted into public consciousness in Western media on December 27th when a suicide bomber took her life, as well as those of at least 26 others. Bhutto, a former Pakistani Prime Minister, graduate of Harvard Law School, wife, and mother of three, will be missed not just by the ordinary family members, friends, and political party members but by those around the globe who admired her vision and determination.

Bhutto, who was 54 at the time of her death, entered the political arena at the age of 35 when she took over leadership of the Pakistani People’s Party, which was founded by her father and lead by her mother after her father was ousted and hanged and two brothers were violently killed. She lead the Pakistani People’s Party, whose motto is “Islam is our faith; democracy is our politics; socialism is our economy; all power to the people,” to victory when she was elected Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1988.

Bhutto was removed from office 20 months later under the order of then-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan on grounds of alleged corruption. In 1993 Bhutto was re-elected but was again removed in 1996 on similar charges, this time by President Farooq Leghari. Bhutto went into self-imposed exile in Dubai in 1998.

Bhutto returned to Pakistan on 18 October 2007, after reaching an understanding with President Pervez Musharraf by which she was granted amnesty and all corruption charges were withdrawn. She was assassinated on December 27, 2007, after departing a PPP rally in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, two weeks before the scheduled Pakistani general election of 2008 where she was a leading opposition candidate.

The Pakistani People’s Party is now lead by her son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who was appointed Environment Minister under Bhutto, was imprisoned for seven years as a result of his corruption charges and is still suffering from spinal and heart problems that resulted from his long imprisonment. They hope to be elected in early 2008, and to use the momentum of the universal condemnation of Bhutto’s assassination to lead them to victory.

To learn more about Benazir Bhutto, check out the New York Times’ Interactive Timeline of her life, or read about her family’s political party at their website.

I hope that Benazir Bhutto’s story will inspire other women to become political leaders, and to remember that their wisdom, vision and determination are key to any true commitment to democracy. Benazir Bhutto will not have died in vain if we maintain a commitment to true democracy.

Since this article was first drafted, some friends have drawn my attention to the fact that Bhutto’s corruption charges might have resulted from real corruption, but that’s unsettlingly unclear, and probably won’t be cleared up anytime soon.