The rise and fall of Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto was born in 1953 in Karachi as the eldest daughter of former Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. She studied at Oxford University.
Bhutto returned to Pakistan after completing her studies, and found herself under house arrest in the wake of her father's imprisonment and his subsequent execution.
She returned to the UK in 1984 and became a leader in exile of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) founded by her father. But she was unable to make her political presence felt in Pakistan until the death of the dictator, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.
On 16 November 1988, in the first open election in more than a decade, Bhutto's PPP won the largest number of seats in the national assembly. Bhutto was sworn in as the prime minister of a coalition government on December 2, becoming, at age 35, the youngest person — and the first woman — to head the government of a Muslim-majority state in modern times.
Bhutto's government was dismissed in 1990 following charges of corruption against her, for which she was never tried. Zia's protégé Nawaz Sharif subsequently came to power.
Bhutto was re-elected in 1993 but was dismissed three years later by then president Farooq Leghari amid various corruption scandals.
After eight years in exile in Dubai and London, Bhutto returned to Karachi on October 18, 2007, to contest in the national elections, which have been scheduled for January 8.
But that was not to be. She was assassinated at the venue of an election rally in Rawalpindi.
Here is the life of a charismatic leader in pictures.
Benazir Bhutto is elected as the president of Oxford Union, the debating society of Oxford University, on November 30, 1976. Bhutto is only the third woman to hold the post. AP Photo
Benazir Bhutto (top right) with her family in July 1978. From left to right are her mother Nusrat Bhutto, brother Shahnawaz Bhutto, and father and former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Her brother Murtaza Bhutto is at bottom left and her sister Sanam Bhutto is at bottom right. AP Photo
Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as a newly-elected member of the national assembly, at a ceremony in Islamabad on November 30, 1988. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)
Benazir Bhutto, along with the then Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and Bangladesh president Hussain Muhammed Ershad at the fourth annual South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation meeting in Islamabad on December 29, 1988. Speaking on the occasion, Bhutto called for a cut in defence spending. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)
Benazir Bhutto with her daughter Bakhtwar in Karachi on May 6, 1991. (AP Photo)
Benazir Bhutto (second from right) looks on as her father and the then Pakistani President Ali Bhutto shakes hand with Indian Prime minister Indira Gandhi in Simla.
Benazir Bhutto (L) visits Doll's museum in Shimla on June 29, 1972. (AFP PHOTO)
Benazir Bhutto (L) talks to party workers at her Karachi residence on August 29, 1985, in her last public appearance before being arrested. She is released in April 1986. (AFP PHOTO)
Benazir Bhutto at her wedding with Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi on December 18, 1987.
Benazir Bhutto, along with her son Bilwal (front) and daughter Asifa, emerges from Islamabad airport to attend the Senate session where her husband Asif Zardari took the oath of office as a Senator in the parliament house on December 29, 1997. (Ap photo/ M.Khursheed)
Benazir Bhutto is rescued from her truck after a bomb explodes in Karachi on October 18, 2007 (Thursday). Two explosions went off near her vehicle, killing 139 supporters and members of her security team. Bhutto escapes unhurt. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
Benazir Bhutto (L) receives her political rival former prime minister Nawaz Sharif at her residence in Islamabad on December 3, 2007. (AP Photo/Pakistan Muslim League)
Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto waves to the crowd at an election rally in Rawalpindi on Thursday (Dec 27, 2007). Minutes after she addressed the rally, Bhutto was assassinated. (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash)
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