Monday, 19 December 2011 16:42

Posted by Fakir Syed Iqtidaruddin

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Benazir Bhutto took the mantle of power from her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, getting elected twice as Prime Minister of Pakistan. She inherited her bearing and physical presence from her mother Nusrat Bhutto. Her family and close friends knew her as "Pinky." As a Muslim woman leader, Bhutto was almost an iconic figure in the West. She became the first woman prime minister of an Islamic state. However, her career was a cycle of exile, house arrest, ascent to power and dismissal. Jailed and then exiled after her father's fall, Bhutto returned to campaign in 1986 after Zia's military government gave in to international pressure to slowly restore democracy. In a scene reminiscent of her second coming in October 2007, she was greeted in April 1986 by hundreds of thousands of supporters, who enveloped her motorcade and staged a daylong demonstration that was the largest display in memory of discontent with Zia's government. Zia's ...