Benazir Bhutto has her own ideas about why that time was chosen for the elections.

"General Zia called the first democratic elections since 1977 when he learned that I was pregnant, thinking that a pregnant woman couldn't campaign, I could, I did and I won so that disproved that notion."

Despite her pregnancy, Bhutto campaigned for 15 hours a day. When her child was born prematurely, she went straight back into the election campaign and in November as leader of the PPP won the election. How did it feel?

 "... the most exciting moment in my life was when I was sworn in as Prime Minister. I remember walking down the red carpet in the presidential palace and I felt as though an invisible army of all those who had died fighting for freedom walked with me and it was a tremendous moment of vindication. I also felt a tremendous sense that Pakistan had showed the way for other Muslim countries, that a woman could be elected as chief executive."

Her first term in office was to last only twenty months. She returned to office in 1993 when Nawaz Sharif who had replaced her was removed on corruption charges.