Benazir Bhutto's 59th birthday today

ISLAMABAD: The 59th birth anniversary of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed is being celebrated with zeal and due respect all over the country today.

To mark the day‚ Electronic and Print media will air programmes on the life of Benazir Bhutto.

Quran Khuwani was held at Garhi Khuda Bux Bhutto and floral wreaths were laid on the graves of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Late Begum Nusrat Bhutto, Shaheed Mir Murtaza Bhutto, Shaheed Shahnawaz Bhutto and Late Ameer Begum.

The Medical Camps have also been arranged at Garhi Khuda Bux Bhutto, Taluka Level and Liaquat Bagh in order to collect blood donation and to pay rich tributes to martyred leader.

Benazir Bhutto was a Pakistani democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto‚ a former prime minister of Pakistan and the founder of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

In 1982‚ at the age of 29‚ Benazir Bhutto became the chairperson of PPP making her the first woman in Pakistan to head a major political party. In 1988‚ she became the first woman elected to lead a Muslim state and was also Pakistan's first (and thus far‚ only) female prime minister. Noted for her charismatic authority and political astuteness. She drove initiatives for Pakistan's economy and national security‚ and she implemented policies for industrial development and growth.

In addition‚ her political philosophy and economic policies emphasized deregulation (particularly of the financial sector)‚ flexible labor markets‚ the denationalization of state-owned corporations‚ and the withdrawal of subsidies to others. Benazir Bhutto's popularity waned amid recession‚ corruption‚ and high unemployment which later led to the dismissal of her government by then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan.

In 1993‚ Benazir Bhutto was re-elected for a second term after the 1993 parliamentary elections. She is also respectfully referred to as B.B. In 1996‚ the charges of corruption leveled against her led to the final dismissal of her government by President Farooq Leghari. Benazir Bhutto conceded her defeat in the 1997 Parliamentary elections and went into self-imposed exile in Dubai‚ United Arab Emirates in 1998.

After nine years of self-exile‚ she returned to Pakistan on 18 October 2007‚ after having reached an understanding with Pervez Musharraf‚ by which she was granted amnesty and all corruption charges were withdrawn.

Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a bombing on 27 December 2007‚ after leaving PPP's last rally in the city of Rawalpindi‚ two weeks before the scheduled Pakistani general election of 2008 in which she was a leading opposition candidate. The following year‚ she was named one of seven winners of the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights.