Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Politics in the blood

Politics in the blood

THE more things change in Pakistan, the more they remain the same.

At the time of writing, reports from Pakistan indicate Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is to be his country’s new foreign minister in Shehbaz Sharif’s government.


The 33-year-old is the son of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s first and only woman prime minister who was assassinated in 2007 in Rawalpindi, and Asif Ali Zardari, the country’s former president. After Benazir’s death, Bilawal, although only 19, was named co-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, his father being the other. Zardari also hyphenated his son’s surname to Bhutto-Zardari to emphasise the Bhutto legacy.

LEAD Amit 1 INSET 1 Indira Gandhi Bhutto GettyImages 147156319 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (centre) shakes hands with Indira Gandhi on June 28, 1972, inShimla, while Benazir Bhutto (second from right) looks on


After the tragedy of losing his mother, Bilawal returned to his studies at Christ Church, Oxford, where his grandfather, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (who was hanged by Ziaul Haq), had been an undergraduate in the 1950s.

Bilawal and Pakistan’s ousted prime minister, Imran Khan, have one thing in common – the latter was also at Oxford in the 1970s. Imran was at Keble College, while Benazir was at Lady Margaret Hall and went on to become the first Asian woman president of the Union Debating Society in 1977. Imran and Benazir knew each other, but weren’t friends. When Benazir’s younger brother, Murtaza, challenged her for Pakistan’s leadership, she and her husband had him bumped off (according to Murtaza’s daughter, Fatima Bhutto).

LEAD Amit 1 INSET 2 FLIP THE PIC Indira with Rajiv and Sanjay GettyImages 108425734 Indira Gandhi with her sons Sanjay (left) and Rajiv

When Bilawal returned to the UK after his mother’s death, he explained being made co-chairman of the PPP by saying “politics is in my blood”. He had to be given special protection at Oxford and went for a while as Bilawal Lawalib – his first name spelt backwards.

In 2010, when president Zardari met the British prime minister, David Cameron, at Chequers, Bilawal and his 16-year-old sister, Asifa, went along for the ride and afterwards posed for a group photograph. Cameron was also an Oxford man, as was Boris Johnson, his contemporary.

Bilawal was last week in London to meet former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, whose younger brother has replaced Imran. Bilawal’s expected appointment as foreign minister is not necessarily good news for India. Unlike Benazir and Imran, who both had friends in India, Bilalwal has been belligerent and bellicose about Pakistan’s neighbour from a young age. At 22, he typically told a party gathering in Multan: “I will take back Kashmir, all of it, and I will not leave behind a single inch of it because, like the other provinces, it belongs to Pakistan.”

LEAD Amit 1 INSET 3 Sonia and Rahul Gandhi GettyImages 1146166149 Sonia Gandhi with her son Rahul

To be sure, that was then, and this is now. But like his grandfather and his mother, Bilalwal will consider becoming leader of Pakistan both his destiny and his birthright. Army willing, of course.

India cannot complain too much about dynastic politics since it pretty much invented the practice. But things don’t seem to be working out quite so well for Rahul Gandhi. When Rahul did his MPhil at Trinity College, Cambridge – his (assassinated) father, Rajiv Gandhi, and great grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, had been undergraduates at Trinity, too, while his (also assassinated) grandmother, Indira Gandhi, had been at Somerville College, Oxford – he went under the name Rahul “Vinci”, also for security reasons.

More For You

Aga Khan IV tribute: ‘His vision and impact transcended borders, faiths and generations’

His Highness the Aga Khan IV with the then Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, at the Aga Khan Centre, London, in 2019.

Aga Khan IV tribute: ‘His vision and impact transcended borders, faiths and generations’

Naushad Jivraj

WITH profound sorrow and deep gratitude, we reflect on the life and legacy of Prince Karim al-Hussaini Aga Khan IV, our beloved 49th hereditary Imam.

For nearly seven decades, His Highness Aga Khan IV dedicated his life to the spiritual and material wellbeing of the Ismaili community. He was not only our spiritual leader but also a visionary, whose work improved the lives of millions worldwide, leaving an impact that transcended borders, faiths and generations.

Keep ReadingShow less
Aga Khan IV tribute: ‘Prince Rahim has large shoes to fill'

Lord Rumi Verjee and Prince Karim Aga Khan IV

Aga Khan IV tribute: ‘Prince Rahim has large shoes to fill'

Lord Rumi Verjee

IT WAS with great sadness that we heard of the passing of His Highness the Aga Khan in Lisbon last Tuesday (4).

It was also with great joy that we heard the following day of the appointment of Prince Rahim Aga Khan as the new spiritual leader of the global Ismaili community of more than 14 million people around the world.

Keep ReadingShow less
Will government inaction on science, trade & innovation cost the UK its economic future?

The life sciences and science tech sectors more widely continue to see out migration of companies

iStock

Will government inaction on science, trade & innovation cost the UK its economic future?

Dr Nik Kotecha OBE

As the government wrestles with market backlash and deep business concern from early economic decisions, the layers of economic complexity are building.

The Independent reported earlier in January on the government watchdog’s own assessment of the cost of Brexit - something which is still being fully weighed up, but their estimates show that “the economy will take a 15 per cent hit to trade in the long term”. Bloomberg Economics valued the impact to date (in 2023) at £100bn in lost output each year - values and impact which must be read alongside the now over-reported and repetitively stated “black hole” in government finances, being used to rationalise decisions which are already proving damaging.

Keep ReadingShow less
‘Peace in Middle East hinges on Trump’s volatile decisions’

Israeli military vehicles stationed in Nabatieh, Lebanon, last Sunday (26)

‘Peace in Middle East hinges on Trump’s volatile decisions’

CAN the ceasefire endure for any significant length of time? This would go some way to ameliorating the incredible suffering in the region, but does it all hinge on one man, more than the future of the region has ever depended in its entire history?

Ceasefires can’t hold if no progress is made in addressing the underlying issues that led to the conflict in the first place.

Keep ReadingShow less
‘New Bangladesh reflects lessons from its revolution’

Rupa Huq meets Mohammad Yunus

‘New Bangladesh reflects lessons from its revolution’

WHEN the Economist awarded Bangladesh ‘Country of the Year 2024’ for “toppling a despot” and “taking strides towards a more liberal government,” it gave me further impetus to visit the country my parents hailed from (albeit before its independence).

So when a delegation of UK business investors looking to expand into Bangladesh invited me along to join them over parliamentary recess, I jumped at the chance, making me the first of the four British Bangladeshi MPs to venture to what is now termed “Bangladesh 2.0”.

Keep ReadingShow less