Benazir Bhutto  On December 2, 1988, Benazir Bhutto was sworn in
as prime minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head
the government of an Islamic state. Born in Karachi in 1953, she
attended Harvard and Oxford Universities. Her father, Zulfikar
Ali Bhutto, served as prime minister during the mid 1970s and
was overthrown and executed in 1979. In the following period of
political struggle, Bhutto spent nearly six years either in
prison or under house arrest for her leadership of the then-
opposition Pakistan People's Party. Bhutto's first period as
prime minister ended in 1990. She returned to power in 1993 for
three years; however was again removed from power three years
later on similar charges. After spending several years in self-
imposed exile, Bhutto was granted amnesty and returned to
Pakistan. As a leading opposition candidate in the Pakistani
General election of 2008, Bhutto was assassinated on the 27th of
December 2007 upon leaving a PPP rally. A year after her death
she was awarded the Unit