Benazir Bhutto summary

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Benazir Bhutto, (born June 21, 1953, Karachi, Pak.—died Dec. 27, 2007, Rawalpindi), Pakistani politician, the first woman leader of a Muslim nation in modern history. After receiving an education at Harvard and Oxford, she led the political opposition to Pres. Zia-ul-Haq after the execution of her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in 1979. She subsequently endured frequent house arrest (1979–84) and was exiled (1984–86). When Zia died in a plane crash in 1988, she became prime minister of a coalition government. She was unable to do much to combat Pakistan’s widespread poverty, governmental corruption, and increasing crime, and her government was dismissed in 1990 on charges of corruption and other malfeasance. A second stint as prime minister (1993–96) ended similarly. In 1999 she was convicted of taking kickbacks from a Swiss company and sentenced in absentia to five years in prison. In October 2007 Bhutto was granted a long-sought amnesty and returned to Pakistan. In December she was killed while campaigning for upcoming elections.

prime minister Summary

Prime minister, the head of government in a country with a parliamentary or semipresidential political system. In such systems, the prime minister—literally the “first,” or most important, minister—must be able to command a continuous majority in the legislature (usually the lower house in a

government Summary

Government, the political system by which a country or community is administered and regulated. Most of the key words commonly used to describe governments—words such as monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy—are of Greek or Roman origin. They have been current for more than 2,000 years and have not

Pakistan Summary

Pakistan, populous multiethnic country of South Asia. Having a predominately Indo-Iranian speaking population, Pakistan has historically and culturally been associated with its neighbours Iran, Afghanistan, and India. Since Pakistan and India achieved independence from British rule on August 14−15,