Benazir Bhutto to take the service's entrance exams later in the year. In July 1977, Zulfikar Bhutto—who had just been re-elected in a general election—was overthrown in a military coup led by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the Chief of Army Staff. Both Zulfikar and Benazir believed that Zia's coup had been assisted by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); Zulfikar claimed that in a 1976 meeting, U.S. diplomat Henry Kissinger had told him that the U.S. would make "a horrible example" of him if he did not terminate Pakistan's efforts to built a nuclear bomb. Now in control of the country, Zia declared
Benazir Bhutto and that Zulfikar did not receive a fair trial. Just before his execution, Zulfikar urged his wife and daughter to leave Pakistan, but they refused. He was executed in April 1979. Bhutto and Nusrat were then imprisoned for six months, before being released and placed under house arrest for a further six months. The pair were only fully released in April 1980. After the coup, Zulfikar had appointed his wife co-chair of the PPP, while in October 1977 Benazir was appointed to the PPP's central committee. After Zulfikar's death, Benazir replaced his role in the party. In February 1981, she