Prestigious Harvard launches program in Benazir Bhutto’s name

CAMBRIDGE: Classmates of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto have taken it upon themselves to start an international leadership course in the name of the slain PPP leader at her alma mater, Harvard University.

The main aim of the course will be to provide proper training and guidance to leaders from across the Muslim world. They will be granted a chance to connect to each other who share the principle of Benazir Bhutto, who was the first Muslim female Prime Minister in the world.

The main idea is to introduce these fellows, who take up this course, to a wide network of advisers, influence holders, and Class of 1973 alumni. The knowledge imparted could help these leaders bring about a valuable change when they return home.

"The goal is to prepare people who will be assuming leadership positions in these countries," said Bhutto’s classmate Peter Galbraith ’73. "It’s one thing to be a political leader. It’s another to be effective in government," he added.

A post on the Harvard Gazette read: The Bhutto program’s first event, an assembly titled “Leading in the Muslim World: What would Benazir Do Today?,” will be Monday at 9 a.m. at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Several members of the Class of ’73 are expected to speak, including Holly Weeks, an adjunct lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government; Leigh Hafrey, a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management; Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, former lieutenant governor of Maryland; and Bahman Mossavar-Rahmani, president of United American Securities, Inc. Farzana Yaqoob, a minister for social welfare and women’s development in Pakistan, is also expected to speak.

Benazir Bhutto was a popular leader and chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party(PPP), Pakistan's largest political party at the time when she was assassinated in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007 while addressing an election rally. Benazir was poised to win the elections and come to power before she was assassinated. Her party, led by her widower Asif Ali Zardari, took over the reins of the party and the government, after the PPP won the elections of 2008.

Benazir is hailed across the world, especially in the west, as a brave leader who fought for democracy. Her rigid stance against illiteracy, disease and female subjugation won her many admirers across the globe. Her resolve to defeat militants come what may also won her many praise from fans and critics alike.