IHT : Chronology of Pakistan's ex-premier Bhutto career

Chronology of Pakistan's ex-premier Bhutto career

The Associated Press | October 19, 2007

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Benazir Bhutto, 54, returned to Pakistan on Thursday more than eight years after she left to avoid corruption charges.

The following are some of the key events in her career:

Oct. 18, 2007 — Bhutto flies into Karachi, where tens of thousands of supporters give her a rousing welcome. Several hours later, she narrowly escapes suicide bombing during homecoming procession that kills 126 people. She is unharmed.

Oct. 5, 2007 — President Gen. Pervez Musharraf signs a corruption amnesty covering other cases against Bhutto, opening the way for her return and a possible power-sharing agreement.

April 14, 1999 — A court finds Bhutto guilty of corruption while she is out of the country. The conviction was later quashed, but Bhutto remains in exile.

Nov. 5, 1996 — President Farooq Leghari dismisses Bhutto's second administration amid accusations of nepotism and undermining the justice system.

Oct. 19, 1993 — Bhutto takes oath for a second term as prime minister.

Aug. 6, 1990 — President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dismisses Bhutto's government, citing corruption and a failure to control ethnic violence.

Dec. 1, 1988 — Bhutto, aged 35, becomes the first woman prime minister of a Muslim nation after winning parliamentary elections.

April 10, 1986 — Bhutto returns from exile in London to lead the Pakistan People's Party that her father founded.

April 4, 1979 — Bhutto's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, is executed for the murder of a political opponent, two years after his ouster as prime minister in a military coup.