Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari joined the Shehbaz Sharif cabinet on Wednesday as the country’s 37th foreign minister. The 33-year-old charismatic politician was first elected to the National Assembly in 2018, and this will be the first time that he’ll be serving as a member of the federal cabinet.
Said to be Pakistan’s youngest foreign minister, Bilawal inherits the legacy of one of Pakistan’s most influential political families. He was sworn in two weeks after he helped topple Imran Khan and install Shehbaz Sharif as the prime minister.
Bilawal is the son of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and ex-president Asif Ali Zardari, and the grandson of another former premier, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Following his mother’s assassination in 2007, he became party chief at the tender age of 19, while still a student at Oxford University and with little political experience.
With Benazir Bhutto dead and Asif Ali Zardari disgraced by corruption charges, and even spending significant jail time, many political analysts had ruled out PPP’s revival. Those were struggling times for a young Bilawal as he fought against all odds and convinced party seniors with fresh ideas. Bilawal vowed to carry his mother’s dreams forward, thus striking an emotional chord with the people of Pakistan.
The development came less than a decade after Bilawal completed his studies in exile in Dubai. Benazir Bhutto went into a self-imposed exile in 1999 to escape charges when Pervez Musharraf seized power in a military coup.
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Pakistan’s newest foreign minister is said to reflect his mother’s image, and is considered progressive by the country’s standards. That Bilawal has often spoken out on women and minority rights has helped him gain this image. Bilawal is also popular among the country’s youth, but is often mocked for his poor command over Urdu.
