Benazir Bhutto was the first-born son of landowner Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the future President (1971-1973) and Prime Minister (1973-1977) of Pakistan, and Begam Nusrat Bhutto, née Isfagani, the daughter of an Iranian-born entrepreneur. After graduating in 1970 from the Mission School of Jesus and Mary in Karachi, where children from wealthy Muslim families studied, Benazir continued her education at Harvard (USA) and Oxford (UK) Universities.

The passion for political struggle, the desire for power, can be called the ancestral trait of Bhutto, which gave rise to this dynasty of Pakistani politicians. In 1966, Z. A. Bhutto resigned from the post of Foreign Minister of Pakistan and founded the Opposition People's Party of Pakistan (PPP) in 1967*. Bhutto called for the "restoration of democracy" by proposing an economic reform program called "Islamic socialism", which resulted in his arrest and imprisonment in 1968-1969. As a result of an intense political struggle, Bhutto won the presidency on December ²¹, 1971.1 It is interesting to recall that after becoming the leader of Pakistan, he visited the Soviet Union ^{twice: as President in March 1972 and as Prime Minister in October 1974.2}

In March 1977, Pakistan held general elections to the country's Parliament and provincial legislative assemblies, which were again won by the PPP. Opposition leaders said the vote was rigged, refused to recognize the official election results, and launched a protest campaign that left more than 270 people dead. This gave rise to military intervention: on July 5, 1977, a military coup was carried out, as a result of which Bhutto was arrested, and martial law was imposed in the country. General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq assumed the post of Chief Military Administrator, and in 1978 became President of Pakistan.³ Bhutto was accused of planning to assassinate political rivals and put on trial. In March 1978, under martial law, Bhutto was sentenced to death.

Ignoring the threats, Benazir returned to her homeland, where she opposed the dictatorship, for which she was persecuted by the junta. She was taken into custody shortly before her father's execution in April 1979 and spent most of her 5-year sentence in solitary confinement. Bhutto recalled the prison conditions as very difficult.

One of B. Bhutto's brothers, Mir Murtaza, fled to Afghanistan after the fall of his father's government. From there, as well as from other Middle Eastern capitals, he and the militant group Zulfiqar launched a campaign against the Pakistani military authorities.

When Bhutto managed to leave Pakistan for medical treatment in 1984, she took over the leadership of the TNG, which she led from London, and continued her political campaign against General Zia-ul-Haq.

B. Bhutto's youngest brother, Shah Nawaz, who also became a political figure, was found dead in his apartment on the Cote d'Azur (France) in 1985 at the age of 27. Bhutto believed that he was poisoned by the Pakistani security services.

In 1986, Bhutto returned to her homeland, becoming the leader of the opposition. In 1987. She married a Pakistani entrepreneur, Asif Ali Zardari, who was three years younger. Benazir admitted that " my marriage to Asif Zardari was arranged by our families." "On July 29, 1987, a dramatic change occurred in my personal life - I agreed to a matchmaking marriage at the insistence of my family. My matchmaking marriage paid for my forced choice of political career. My position in Pakistan made it impossible for me to simply meet someone, get to know them better, and then marry them."⁴. Sanam's sister, who was four years younger than Benazir, married six years earlier.

After the death of Zia-ul-Haq in 1988 in a plane crash as a result of an explosion on board the plane, the cause of which remained unknown, a power vacuum emerged in Pakistan. Bhutto won the 1988 election and became Prime Minister, becoming the first female leader of a Muslim state in modern history and the youngest Prime Minister in Pakistan's history. She quickly gained the trust of Pakistanis, largely due to her father's huge popularity and her personal charm. It is worth recalling that prior to Bhutto, the representation of women in government and leadership positions was very small, despite the fact that in all four Constitutions of Pakistan (1956, 1962, 1973 and 1985), a certain number of seats were specifically reserved for women in the country's legislative bodies.⁵ Therefore, its victory in the political arena of Pakistan can be called a breakthrough in the national consciousness of Pakistanis.

At the height of her popularity, shortly after her first election as Prime Minister, Bhutto became one of the most influential women in world politics. Young and effective, she successfully positioned herself as an innovative politician, standing out vividly against the background of the male political establishment.

In the October 1990 elections, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan removed her from the post of Prime Minister and called new elections, in which the TNG was defeated. The reason for the defeat was Bhutto's accusations of corruption.

After the 1993 elections, Bhutto was again appointed Prime Minister. The total number of votes received by the PPP was less than that of its main rival, the Pakistan Muslim League, so Bhutto formed a coalition with conservative parties to form a government.

Her brother Mir Murtaza won the 1993 local elections and became one of the provincial legislators. In November 1993, he returned from exile and demanded to give up the leadership of the PNP. Discord in the Bhutto family affected the unity of couples-

* In Russian literature, it is sometimes referred to as the "Party of the Pakistani People" (PPN).

tii. Mir Murtaza was arrested on terrorism charges upon arrival in Karachi, but was released on bail in June 1994.

In the 1996 parliamentary elections, the PPP won again. However, in the same year, Bhutto was removed from her post by President Sardar Farooq Ahmed Leghari on charges of embezzling international aid. After the second defeat in her career, many Pakistanis associated her name with corruption and immorality of the authorities. On September 20, 1996, the second day after his 42nd birthday, Mir Murtaza was killed in a shootout with police under unclear circumstances. Bhutto's husband was charged with his murder. Later that year, Bhutto herself was charged with large-scale corruption and organizing contract killings.

In the 1997 parliamentary elections, the PNP was defeated, winning only 17 seats out of 217. In early 1998, Bhutto, her husband and mother were formally charged with corruption, their accounts in British and Swiss banks were frozen, but the investigation was soon suspended and the charges against Bhutto were dropped.

During both of Bhutto's terms as Prime Minister, her husband played a prominent and highly controversial role in politics. Pakistani authorities have repeatedly accused Zardari of embezzling huge sums of money from the state treasury. It was alleged that the money was secretly transferred to accounts in European banks. Many observers noted that Bhutto's decline in popularity was directly related to the accusations against her husband. Over the past 10 years, about 20 criminal cases have been opened against Zardari, but none of the charges have been proven in court. However, in total, he spent about eight years in custody. In 2004, Zardari was released on bail for not proving the charges.

Bhutto also strongly rejected the corruption charges against her, which she said were politically motivated. In total, prior to the amnesty in October 2007, five criminal cases were initiated against her in Pakistan on charges of corruption, but she was not convicted of any of them.

In 1999, Bhutto was convicted for refusing to appear at a court hearing, but the Supreme Court of Pakistan later overturned this decision. Shortly after the verdict, tape recordings of conversations between the judge and some aides to then-Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif were discovered, which confirmed that the judge had been pressured. Shortly thereafter, Bhutto left Pakistan and lived abroad for a time. But even there, she continued to be haunted by talk of the wealth belonging to her and her husband. She even filed an appeal against a Swiss court verdict in 2003 in a money laundering case.

Bhutto spent the years of emigration with her three children (son Bilawal, daughters Bakhtawar and Asifa) in Dubai (UAE), where her husband also came after his release in 2004. She often visited Western capitals, where she lectured at universities and think tanks, and met with officials.

In 2006, Bhutto formed an alliance with the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League party, Sharif, intending to join an active political struggle. In an interview with the British TV channel "BBC World" on September 14, 2007. She confirmed her decision to return to her homeland on 18 October 2007 and continue her political activities in Pakistan. This came after President Pervez Musharraf signed a decree granting her and other opposition figures an amnesty on corruption charges. On the day of her return, an unsuccessful attempt was made on her, however, which claimed the lives of more than a hundred people.

However, the fateful day came: on December 27, 2007, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. Secrets continue to haunt her name: it remains unclear who organized the attempt, and what caused her death.

Benazir Bhutto was 54 years old...

Shortly after Bhutto's murder, her family called for the creation of a UN-sponsored investigation team to solve the crime: only in this case, Benazir's relatives believe, the investigation will be complete and independent. The Bhutto clan does not trust the investigation of the Pakistani authorities, who, in their opinion, are interested in covering up the organizers and perpetrators of the murder.

After another violent death of a Bhutto dynasty leader, many Benazir supporters believed that her party would be led by Bilawal, Benazir's 19-year-old son. It is interesting to note that the Bhutto family residence in Karachi, where they returned from eight years of exile, is called "Bilawal House". It can be assumed that Benazir had no doubt that her son would one day become the successor of the family field - the struggle for power: According to Bilawal, his mother openly discussed politics in Pakistan with him and repeatedly told him that he could become her successor.

Bilawal is a first-year law student at the prestigious Christ Church College, Oxford. His grandfather, Zulfiqar, had also received a degree from the same college. Bilawal stated that his studies are currently his top priority and that he will continue them regardless of the results of the parliamentary elections in Pakistan (which were postponed from January 8 to February 18 due to the murder of his mother).

Zardari intends to turn Bilawal House into a museum dedicated to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his daughter Benazir, who became worthy of her father.

* Prior to Oxford, Z. A. Bhutto graduated from the University of California, Berkeley (USA).

¹ For more information, see: Sherkovina R. I. Political struggle in Pakistan in the 60s-70s. - See collection: Pakistan: History and Economy, Moscow, 1980.

² For more information, see: Rodionov A. A. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto: How I Knew Him, Moscow, 2004.

³ For more information, see: Moskalenko V. N. One of the pages of Pakistani history. - See collection: Pakistan in the modern world, Moscow, 2005.

^{Bhutto B.} 4 Daughter of the East: Autobiography, Moscow, 1991, p. 404.

^{Makhkamova S. A.} 5 Women's movement in Pakistan. Moscow, 1978, pp. 18-19. - See also the section"...And achieving gender equality..." of the Human Development Report (United Nations Development Programme).