'Mother killed, father jailed for graft': Bilawal Bhutto Zardari carries forward family legacy

Bilawal Bhutto on Wednesday took oath as Pakistan’s 37th foreign minister in the Shehbaz Sharif cabinet. Hailing from one of Pakistan’s most influential political families, Bilawal became Pakistan’s youngest foreign minister at the age of 33.

The Bhutto family, however, has had its share of ups and downs. Bilawal is the son of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and ex-President Asif Ali Zardari, and the grandson of another former premier, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. His grandfather also served as foreign minister in the mid-1960s and was the founder of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) that Bilawal now leads.

Benazir Bhutto: An icon in Pakistan’s Islamist society

Benazir Bhutto had served as the 11th and 13th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1988-90 and 1993-96. Ideologically liberal and secular, she became the first woman to head a democratic government in a Muslim majority country.

Her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was elected PM in 1973, and ousted in a military coup and executed in 1979. Benazir was repeatedly imprisoned by Zia-ul-Haq’s military regime after she took control of PPP. After winning the elections in 1998, she attempted several reforms that were stifled by conservative and Islamist forces, backed by the powerful military.

Her second term in power saw several controversies including a bribery scandal involving her and her husband Asif Ali Zardari. Her government was dismissed and she went into self-exile a couple of years later. Following a United States-brokered negotiations with President Pervez Musharraf, she returned to Pakistan in 2007 to compete in the elections the next year.

Benazir based her campaign on lesser political involvement by the military and curbing growing Islamist violence. On December 27, 2007, she was killed in a suicide blast while leaving a rally in Rawalpindi. 

Asif Ali Zardari: Jailed for corruption

Asif Ali Zardari served as the 11th President of Pakistan from 2008-13, and has been a member of the National Assembly since 2018. Zardari has been accused of corruption ever since the first Benazir Bhutto government of 1988-90. He went on to become a minister in the second PPP government as well.

In 1996, after the Benazir Bhutto government was dismissed, Zardari was arrested and jailed in corruption charges. He was released in 2004 and went into self-exile in Dubai, only to return after Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. 

READ | From exile to Pakistan’s youngest foreign minister, the journey of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto: Sad end for a powerful person

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto served as the fourth President of Pakistan from 1971-73 and the ninth Prime Minister from 1973-77. Prior to that, he served as foreign minister, and was one of the proponents of Operation Gibraltar in Kashmir, which led to the 1965 India-Pakistan war.

Bhutto took over the Presidency in December 1971 following Pakistan’s humiliating defeat to India and creation of Bangladesh. As PM, he played a key role in initiating the country’s nuclear programme. However, his rule was marked by economic stagnation and civil violence. In 1977, the PPP once again won elections, that was widely alleged to be rigged. On July 5 the same year, Bhutto was deposed in a military coup, tried and executed.