Asian Window

Asif Zardari may have emerged as winner but Bilawal, Bakhtawar and Aseefa are pitched against cousins Fatima, Zulfikar Junior and Sassui. The saga will continue, says Anjum Niaz in Dawn:

Mumtaz Ali Bhutto

There is a background to Mumtaz Bhutto’s fiery dissent. He was a founding member of the PPP. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto made him famous in his 1971 maiden address to the nation on PTV by calling him his “talented cousin” who had gone to Oxford. He appointed him the governor and later the chief minister of Sindh. Come 1984 and the daughter of ZAB (Zulfikar Ali Bhutto) sacks him.

“She felt threatened,” says Mumtaz. “Benazir was power hungry and willing to make alliances with her father’s murderers, opportunists and hypocrites. When I objected, she told me to leave the party.”

During his 18 month exile in London, Mumtaz set up the Sindh Baloch and Pashtun Front. “We had a one point agenda – to set up a confederation according to the Pakistan Resolution.” Sadly the Front fizzled out and Benazir returned to Pakistan as a heroine.

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Pakistan waits as Bhutto clan trade blows

Benazir’s husband hopes to become President next weekend, but he faces bitter opposition from within the family. Omar Waraich from Islamabad in The Independent:

Asif Ali Zardari is poised to become President of Pakistan next weekend after inheriting the political mantle of his wife, Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated last December. But he faces bitter opposition from within the country’s pre-eminent political dynasty.

Mumtaz Ali Bhutto, Benazir’s great-uncle and head of the Bhutto clan, told The Independent on Sunday last week that the prospect of Mr Zardari becoming President was the latest in a series of tragedies to afflict the family – and Pakistan. “It’s unfortunate for the country, and … for the party that a man of his background should become … President,” he said. “He is totally corrupt and utterly illiterate … If he becomes the next President, what will be left of this country?”

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• Exiles’ return
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• Asif Ali Zardari: From prison to zenith of politics in Pakistan
• Pakistan’s kingmaker — or next king?