Benazir Bhutto was a political leader with great managerial skill. Seen as a threat to many and a gift to others, she was driven by her values and demonstrated the attributes of a great leader. Read her story and consider the challenge that follows.
Female Leaders: Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto was born in 1953 in Karachi (now Islamabad). Her father was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who became president of Pakistan in 1971 and then prime minister in 1973. She completed her formative education in Pakistan before moving to the USA in 1969, where she attended Harvard University. She would later describe her time at Harvard as four of the happiest years of her life. Following this she moved to the UK and studied philosophy, politics, international law, diplomacy and economics at Oxford. In 1976 she was elected president of the Oxford Union, the first Asian woman to head this prestigious debating society.
She returned to Pakistan after completing her studies, but became embroiled in her father’s political misfortunes. His prime ministership ended in a bloodless military coup in 1977 and he was accused of plotting a murder, sentenced to death by a martial law court and hanged in 1979. During this time Benazir was hounded with intermittent house arrest and forced relocation. In 1981 she was imprisoned in a desert cell in Sindhi province and endured shocking conditions that she outlined in her book Daughter of Destiny. She underwent horrific treatment and physical hardships before she was moved to hospital and then back into another jail, before returning to a further period of house arrest.
Even under the harsh restrictions of the military junta, Benazir made progress with her political ambitions. She forged a union with the other opposition party and created the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD). However, after six years of house arrest and imprisonment, the junta allowed her to travel to the UK for ‘medical reasons’. Following some surgery, she began to further expose the political injustice in Pakistan and to speak out about the human rights abuse against political prisoners. After the junta leader’s death and increasing international pressure, Benazir returned to Pakistan to support and take part in open elections in 1988. Her party won the majority of seats in the National Assembly and she was sworn in as prime minister of a coalition government. At the age of 35, she was the youngest person and first woman to lead a government in a Muslim‐majority country. Her leadership prompted a rapid modernisation of Pakistan that some sections of the country saw as ‘westernisation’, advancing a secular and liberal agenda.
During her term in office Benazir was a strong advocate for women’s rights and she introduced legislation that addressed discrimination against women, social reforms and health issues. She was also pro‐life, although often her election promises failed to be turned into reality.
In 1990, Benazir and her husband were accused of corruption and her government was dismissed. It is likely that the charges were politically motivated and they have never been substantiated. Then in opposition, she fought the charges and in 1993 won a second term as prime minister. Her reform agenda was reinstituted and again conservative elements of Pakistan’s society worried about the liberalisation of the country. During this time Benazir was a supporter of the Taliban, thinking that they would bring stability to Afghanistan, and she also oversaw the development of missile technology and the build‐up of Pakistan’s nuclear capacity.
In 1996, corruption charges were again filed against Benazir and her family, and in early 2000 she fled Pakistan to live in exile again, this time in the United Arab Emirates. Here she cared for her three children and her mother, who had Alzheimer’s disease. Her husband had been imprisoned for corruption and was not released until 2004.
After eight years of exile, agitation and political manoeuvring, Benazir made plans to return to Pakistan. Her aim was to support and potentially contest elections that were planned for 2008. She returned in 2007, but a month later a suicide bomber attempted her murder. He failed, although he killed 136 supporters gathered at a political rally. This prompted the ruling government to issue a ‘state of emergency’ and Benazir was again placed under house arrest, making political campaigning almost impossible.
The next day the arrest warrant was retracted and she set out her party’s manifesto, claiming that it would focus on the 5 Es (employment, education, energy, environment and equality). In December a second attempt was made on her life when her car was fired on and a bomb was set off near the vehicle. She was critically injured and rushed to hospital, where she was pronounced dead a few hours later. Riots in Pakistan and international condemnation followed, and her husband and son, Bilawal, vowed to carry on her political work.
Benazir Bhutto was a skilled politician who managed the responsibilities of wife, mother and her country’s needs. She suffered greatly at the loss of her father and her subsequent periods of imprisonment, yet refused to abandon her political and social responsibilities and forged a political career in the hotbed of Pakistan. The cost was high, and she must have known that her assassination was a very real danger when she returned to the country in 2007. At her funeral hundreds of thousands of mourners testified that she was arguably the most popular democratic leader in her nation’s short history.
Challenge: Benazir Bhutto managed many responsibilities and competing demands. Given what has been covered earlier in the book, would you say she was more of a leader or a manager? Why? Would a manager driven by a wish to avoid conflict have placed themselves (literally as Benazir did) in the ‘firing line’? What do you think is the reason(s) that drives leaders to do this? How important is courage as a leadership attribute? Is it also a requirement of a manager? If so, why? Have you ever met or been inspired by a courageous manager or leader? What did they do and why do you think they took this risk?
