"Being the first woman chosen to lead an Islamic country, I feel a particular responsibility towards all women."

These words by Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto are a legacy not only a quote. On her 72nd birthday today, we recall not just the life of an exceptional leader but also the beginning of a movement that challenged to rethink women's role in a particularly paternalistic society.

Benazir Bhutto was far more than a politician. She was a visionary, a fighter for dignity, and a pioneer who aspired Pakistan where women are not only noticed but also heard, respected, and empowered. Benazir lived out the principles of "gender equality" in deeds and belief long before they permeated worldwide conversation.

Benazir Bhutto stepped up in a nation where several women are still denied the right to go outside their homes freely. She became prime minister twice, not just once. And she did it with grace, vision, and unrelenting devotion to justice.

Especially for women, she ascended to power at a time when General Ziaul-regime scars still hung huge. Though difficult to remove, the regressive laws and institutional prejudice he put into place were not simple to take apart; Shaheed Benazir, however, started the process with steady willpower and audacious actions. She stated Pakistan's future would include its women from her first day in office.

Benazir Bhutto created women's studies institutions in five important cities, launched the First Women Bank to give financial independence to women, and reserved job quotas in the public sector—little beginnings that became stepping stones for millions of women who now proudly contribute to Pakistan's labor force.

Her ground-breaking Lady Health Workers Program made medical care accessible to women in rural areas. Designed to make sure women not only dreamed but also had the means to pursue them, her Working Women Hostels and computer training centers sought to provide them. By providing Sindh's landless women farmers with land, she defied centuries-old traditions and demonstrated to the globe that women were not only caretakers but also changemakers.

Her most extreme act was to release the Zari Sarfaraz Commission Report, a paper that revealed the pervasive legal prejudice women encountered in Pakistan. It was a reckoning moment, a recognition of suffering, and a pledge of metamorphosis.

Under Benazir, leadership was not symbolic. It had substance. She did not advocate women's rights because that would be politically expedient. She did it because she believed—deeply, honestly—that a country could never rise if half of its people remained shackled.

In remembering his mother, Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari referred to her as an indefatigable supporter of the people, a daughter of the East whose heartbeats rang throughout Pakistan. He's correct. She was not only political. Her strength was a source of pride for every Pakistani woman; her bravery was a balm to the hurt. She was an emotional force.

Compassion defined Benazir's politics. She showed that leadership and empathy are not mutually exclusive. She fought for the poor, the marginalized, and minorities. She led with poise in a world that was not friendly to women who dared to lead. And she performed everything with extraordinary dignity and intelligence.

Her dreams persist in the Benazir Income Support Programme, the designated seats for women in Parliament, property ownership rights in Sindh and in the hearts of many young girls who now dare to believe they too may lead, speak, and fly.

“Her bravery, her principles, and her love for Pakistan are timeless," Bilawal Bhutto Zardari correctly stated. The Pakistan People's Party is still dedicated to this inheritance of fostering a fair, inclusive, and equal Pakistan.

Thus, let us do more than recall Shaheed Benazir Bhutto's 72nd birthday. With fervor and perseverance, let us keep her work alive. Let's speak truth to power, challenge injustice where we observe it, and create space at the table for every woman who merits to be there.

Because Benazir Bhutto was their thunder rather than just their voice. And that roar continues to resound.