Taking Control

The tumultuous years after Benazir Bhutto's return to Pakistan from her studies changed the course of her destiny. A few months after her return to Pakistan the coup by General Zia occurred, ousting her father from power. She did not attempt to leave the country and stayed behind with her mother and sister Sanam to help her father with his cause. This began the most traumatic period in Benazir’s life, during which she spent most of her time under house arrest and in various prisons around the country. 

When not held as a prisoner, she started campaigning on behalf of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Her campaign dashed General Zia’s hopes of politically defeating her party, the PPP. After her father’s hanging, the leadership of the PPP was handed to Nusrat, with Benazir wielding a measure of influence. Benazir Bhutto the leader was in the making and her struggle against anarchy was only beginning, and her many positive characteristics only helped her in the long run.

Integrity

People believed in her dream of democratic Pakistan because it was the right thing to do, not just because she had a personal vendetta. She was not in it for avenging her father’s death. Bitterness can eat you up from the inside but cannot drive you. “The task and my motivation remained the same: to return Pakistan to a democracy through fair and impartial elections”.

Charisma

Bhutto learnt the art of oratory in Oxford, where she became the first Asian woman to be elected as the president of the Oxford Union. She was thrust into the limelight to campaign for her father at a young age of 24. She would convince masses of people to follow her in her quest for democracy.  In 1981 Benazir Bhutto led the formation of the Movement for Restoration of Democracy. The regime retaliated with brutal violence of the protesters with immense casualties. An estimated 20,000 political workers were hunted down and executed during the movement whereas thousands more fled around Western Europe, the Middle East and United States to seek asylum.

Endurance and Positivity

Before Bhutto's return to Pakistan, she had a privileged life in Pakistan, Harvard and Oxford. However, that changed in the course of a few months, and during the years under General Zia’s regime she had to undergo frequent house arrests and imprisonment. Life in imprisonment would take a toll on her mental and physical health. Her captors would ask her to leave politics and escape the country. She endured the hardship and remained positive towards her goal.