Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (بلاول بھٹو زرداری; ; born 21 September 1988) is a Pakistani politician who served as the 37th Minister of Foreign Affairs, in office from 27 April 2022 to 10 August 2023.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was born at the Lady Dufferin Hospital in Karachi, Sindh, on 21 September 1988 to former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto and her husband, former President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari.

He is the maternal grandson of former president and Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his wife Nusrat Bhutto.

His paternal grandfather, Hakim Ali Zardari, was a politician and a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan.

From his mother's side, he is the nephew of politicians Murtaza Bhutto and Shahnawaz Bhutto, and from his father's side, his aunts are politicians Azra Peechoho and Faryal Talpur.

Politician Ghinwa Bhutto is his aunt by marriage.

Author Fatima Bhutto and San Francisco based artist Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Jr are his maternal cousins.

He is of Sindhi and Kurdish descent on his maternal side and Baloch descent on his paternal side.

For early education, Bilawal attended Karachi Grammar School in Karachi and Froebel's International School in Islamabad before going into exile to Dubai in 1999 along with his mother.

In Dubai, he attended the Rashid School For Boys.

He became the chairman of Pakistan People's Party in 2007, following his mother's assassination.

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.

Bilawal was appointed as the Chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), on 30 December 2007, at the age of 19.

On this occasion, he recalled his martyred mother, "My mother always said that democracy is the best revenge".

This was the 10th manifesto by the party and was titled, Bibi ka Waada Nibhaana Hai Pakistan Bachana Hai (We have to fulfil Benazir's promise and save Pakistan).

At an event unveiling the manifesto, Bilawal said that if given the opportunity, the party would focus on implementing a poverty eradication programme.

For further studies, he followed in the footsteps of both his mother and his grandfather and applied to Oxford University, where he was accepted to read Modern History and Politics at Christ Church, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in 2012 (later promoted to a Master of Arts by seniority).

The party won 43 seats in the National Assembly - nine more seats than in the 2013 General Elections.

Bilawal contested from Karachi District South (NA-246), Malakand (NA-8), as well as Larkana (NA-200).

He won from Larkana with 84,426 votes, having lost from two of the other constituencies to the Imran Khan-founded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidates.

The PPP scion claimed that rigging took place before and after the elections, adding that across Pakistan polling agents were expelled from the polling stations.

"We are a part of the parliament to support the democratic we will ignore the discrepancies in the election," he remarked, demanding a probe into rigging allegations.

Bilawal had been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from 13 August 2018 till 10 August 2023.

On 28 June 2018, PPP, under Bilawal became the first political party to unveil its election manifesto for the 2018 General Elections.

PPP kicked off its election campaign on 30 June 2018, as Bilawal inaugurated their election office in Lyari, Karachi.

In the Pakistan general elections held on 25 July 2018, Pakistan Peoples Party, under the leadership of Bilawal, contested the elections and emerged as the largest party in Sindh and third largest party of Pakistan.

On 13 August 2018, Bilawal became a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan.

Journalists, politicians, and the people of Pakistan praised Bilawal after he delivered his maiden speech in the parliament.

In his speech, he asked Imran Khan to fulfil his promise of rooting out corruption, resolving the water crisis, and providing ten million jobs and 5 million houses to the people during his tenure.

In the speech, Bilawal coined the term 'PM Select' for Imran Khan.

He also said that Imran Khan is not only the prime minister for his party but he is also the prime minister of the Pakistani people who he used refer to as 'donkeys' and 'living corpses' before becoming the Prime Minister.

On 5 March 2019, Bilawal was elected – unopposed - as the chairperson of the National Assembly Standing Committee for Human Rights.

In its first meeting on 18 April 2019, the committee deliberated on The ICT Rights of Persons with Disability Bill, 2018, moved by the ministry and The National Commission on the Status of Women (Amendment) Bill, 2018.

On 27 April 2022, he sworn in as Foreign Minister of Pakistan.

President Arif Alvi took his oath.

He became the youngest foreign minister of Pakistan.

On 21 May 2022, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Guangzhou to push Pakistan-China relations to a new height, declaring, 'Any Attack on China is an Attack on Pakistan'.

On 30 January 2023, Bilawal arrived in Moscow on an official visit during severe economic crisis in Pakistan.

Bilawal has repeatedly criticized the One Unit system and warned against any attempt to bring in the presidential system, explaining that it will not be in the interest of democracy.

During a press talk at a conference on 27 April 2019, he stated, "Presidential system is neither in the interest of the country nor the federation and all democratic forces will resist any such move," adding that the presidential form of government had failed wherever it had been enforced.