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Who is Bilawal Bhutto Zardari?
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Who is Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari?
How did Bhutto Zardari become famous?
Bilawal belongs to the Bhutto family, a prominent political family of Pakistan and is the son of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and President Asif Ali Zardari, and the grandson of former President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. [1]
- Overview
- Born into politics
- Leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (born September 21, 1988, Karachi, Pakistan) is a dynastic figure in Pakistani politics—the son of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and former president Asif Ali Zardari—and the chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP; 2007– ) who briefly served as Pakistan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs (2022–23).
Bhutto Zardari first became known through his dynastic pedigree. His maternal grandfather was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who, as president (1971–73) and prime minister (1973–77) of Pakistan, was one of the country’s most consequential leaders. His mother, Benazir Bhutto, was Pakistan’s first female prime minister (1988–90; 1993–96). In fact, she was pregnant with Bilawal when she launched her first campaign for the office, and she gave birth to him two months later. His father, Asif Ali Zardari, was also a political figure, serving as president from 2008 to 2013; he was the son of Hakim Ali Zardari, a well-known businessman and politician. Both the Bhutto and the Zardari families had been prominent landowners in the Sindh region.
The political success of Bilawal’s family in the late 1980s and early 1990s coincided with Pakistan’s return to democracy and, as a result, with increased public scrutiny of politicians. Thus, his family’s success invited ridicule and controversy as the reins of government shifted bitterly back and forth between Benazir Bhutto, whose support base was concentrated in Sindh province, and Nawaz Sharif, whose support base lay in Punjab province. Having been accused of corruption, money laundering, and even murder, Asif Ali Zardari was imprisoned in 1997. Bhutto decided to flee Pakistan in 1999, taking Bilawal and his sisters, Bakhtawar and Aseefa, to live in exile in London and Dubai. Zardari joined them when he was released from prison in 2004.
While the family was in exile, Bilawal Zardari began studying at Christ Church, Oxford, in 2007. Pakistan was gearing up for parliamentary elections at that time, and Bhutto decided to contest them. She returned to Pakistan in October and began campaigning. But on December 27, weeks before the election was set to be held, she was killed in a suicide attack on her motorcade.
Days later Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who had added Bhutto to his surname, was appointed chair of the PPP. He was billed as the heir to the Bhutto line, but his young age and lack of experience called for a seasoned regent. Accordingly, his father was elected cochair of the party and began directing it while Bhutto Zardari finished his studies in the United Kingdom. In September 2008 Zardari was elected president of Pakistan—“My mother always said, democracy is the best revenge,” Bhutto Zardari had told the press months earlier—and in 2013 Zardari became the first elected president in the country’s history to serve a full term.
Meanwhile, Bhutto Zardari completed a bachelor’s degree in history in 2010, and, at 21 years of age, he returned to live in Pakistan for the first time since he was 11 years old. He began training for political life, including expanding his knowledge of Pakistan, improving his command of Urdu and Sindhi, and occasionally putting what he learned into practice by giving speeches at rallies. He continued to spend significant amounts of time in the United Kingdom, however, as he undertook graduate coursework, earning a master’s degree from Oxford (2015).
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As the PPP was grooming its nominal leader, the party fell into disfavour. Its five-year rule from 2008 to 2013 was marked by widespread discontent over weak economic development, rampant corruption, and government collaboration with the unpopular U.S.-led war on terrorism. Voters flocked to the Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz (PML-N) party, which, under the provincial government of Shehbaz Sharif in Punjab (2008–18), had earned a reputation for able administration and fighting corruption. Meanwhile, much of the PPP’s support in the north of the country was siphoned off by the populism of Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. Nonetheless, the PPP’s acceptance of its loss in the 2013 parliamentary elections led to a historic moment for Pakistan, as the PPP oversaw the country’s first democratic transfer of power.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman and former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is running for the country's top post as he unveiled his party’s 10-point agenda for general election...
Feb 7, 2024 · The 35-year-old son of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto is hoping to lead Pakistan through a deeply turbulent time. Today he's on a double-decker container bus for the first time in this race, in a very last-minute push in the commercial capital to drum up support before Pakistanis head to the polls tomorrow.
Dec 27, 2012 · Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was barely 19 when he inherited a role in a dynasty whose history is steeped in power and bloodshed. He is the son of former Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and ...
Feb 6, 2024 · Born into a political dynasty, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari assumed leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party after his mother's assassination in 2007. Educated at Oxford, he entered...
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- DawnNews English
Apr 28, 2022 · Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has appointed Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, son of assassinated former Premier Benazir Bhutto, as foreign minister, giving his coalition ally a senior role...
