Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

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).

Born into politics

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.

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Leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)

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).

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.

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By the time Bhutto Zardari was eligible to run for the parliament in 2018, the party’s base of support had been reduced to its home province of Sindh. Bhutto Zardari won a seat in the National Assembly, but his party came in a distant third place in overall number of seats. For much of the term, the PPP worked alongside the PML-N, its traditional rival, and Shehbaz Sharif, the latter party’s new leader, to oppose the political agenda of Khan, whose PTI had emerged victorious in the elections. Although Bhutto Zardari took on a greater role in the PPP’s leadership by entering the parliament, his father continued to function as the party’s de facto head.

The cooperation of the PPP with the PML-N ultimately allowed Bhutto Zardari to heighten his profile. Aided by a falling-out between Khan and the military establishment, the opposition managed to remove Khan from power in 2022 and make Shehbaz Sharif prime minister for the remainder of the parliamentary term. Sharif in turn appointed Bhutto Zardari as the country’s foreign minister. As the political fortunes of the PTI began to reverse, hopes emerged for the PPP to enjoy a resurgence in the national elections set for February 2024, which promised to open new opportunities for Bhutto Zardari.