Age, Biography, and Wiki
Asif Ali Zardari was born on July 26, 1955. He is a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th President of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013. Zardari rose to prominence after the assassination of his wife, Benazir Bhutto, in 2007. He is currently the co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Zardari's life and career have been marked by significant political and business achievements, including his tenure as President and his involvement in various business ventures.
| Occupation | Prime Ministers |
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| Date of Birth | 26 July 1955 |
| Age | 69 Years |
| Birth Place | Karachi, Federal Capital Territory, Pakistan (now Sindh, Pakistan) |
| Horoscope | Leo |
| Country | Pakistan |
Height, Weight & Measurements
There is limited information available on Zardari's precise height and weight. However, he is often recognized for his political stature rather than his physical attributes.
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Dating & Relationship Status
Zardari was married to Benazir Bhutto, a former Prime Minister of Pakistan, until her assassination in 2007. He has been married once and has three children: Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, and Aseefa Bhutto Zardari.
He belongs to the Zardari family and is the only son of Hakim Ali Zardari, a tribal chief and prominent landowner, and Bilquis Sultana Zardari. His paternal grandmother was of Iraqi descent, while his mother was the granddaughter of Hassan Ali Effendi, a Sindhi educationist with Turkish roots who is known as the founder of the Sindh Madressatul Islam.
In his youth, he led a polo team known as the Zardari Four and pracised boxing. His father owned Bambino —a famous cinema in Karachi—and donated movie equipment to his school. He appeared in a 1969 movie, Salgira, as a child. Zardari's academic background remains a question mark. He received his primary education from Karachi Grammar School. His official biography says he graduated from Cadet College, Petaro in 1972. He went to St Patrick's High School, Karachi from 1973 to 1974; a school clerk says he failed his final examination there. In March 2008, he claimed he had graduated from the London School of Business Studies with a bachelor of education degree in the early 1970s. Zardari's official biography states he also attended Pedinton School in Britain. His British education, however, has not been confirmed, and a search did not turn up any Pedinton School in London. The issue of his diploma was contentious because a 2002 rule required candidates for Parliament to hold a college degree, but the rule was overturned by Pakistan's Supreme Court in April 2008.
He married Benazir Bhutto on 18 December 1987. The marriage, which had been arranged, as is customary in Pakistan, was initially described as an unlikely match. The lavish sunset ceremony in Karachi was followed by immense night celebrations that included over 100,000 people. The marriage enhanced Bhutto's political position in a country where older unmarried women are frowned upon. Zardari deferred to his wife's wishes by agreeing to stay out of politics.
He generally stayed out of his wife's first administration, but he and his associates became entangled in corruption cases linked to the government. He was largely blamed for the collapse of the Bhutto administration.
After the dismissal of Bhutto's government in August 1990, Benazir Bhutto and Zardari were prohibited from leaving the country by security forces under the direction of the Pakistan Army. During the interim government between August and October, caretaker prime minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, a Bhutto rival, initiated investigations of corruption by the Bhutto administration. Jatoi accused Zardari of using his wife's political position to charge a ten percent commission for obtaining permission to set up any project or to receive loans. He was tagged with the nickname "Mr. Ten Percent".
In April 1993, he became one of the 18 cabinet ministers in the caretaker government that succeeded Nawaz Sharif's first abridged premiership. The caretaker government lasted until the July elections. After Bhutto's election, he served as her Investment Minister, chief of the intelligence bureau, and the head of the Federal Investigation Agency. In February 1994, Benazir sent Zardari to meet with Saddam Hussein in Iraq to deliver medicine in exchange for three detained Pakistanis arrested on the ambiguous Kuwait-Iraq border. In April 1994, Zardari denied allegations that he was wielding unregulated influence as a spouse and acting as "de-facto Prime Minister". In March 1995, he was appointed chairman of the new Environment Protection Council.
During the beginning of the second Bhutto Administration, a Bhutto family feud between Benazir and her mother, Nusrat Bhutto, surfaced over the political future of Murtaza Bhutto, Nusrat's son and Benazir's younger brother. Benazir thanked Zardari for his support. In September 1996, Murtaza and seven others died in a shootout with police in Karachi, while the city was undergoing a three-year civil war. At Murtaza's funeral, Nusrat accused Benazir and Zardari of being responsible and vowed to pursue prosecution. Ghinwa Bhutto, Murtaza's widow, also accused Zardari of being behind his killing. President Farooq Leghari, who would dismiss the Bhutto government seven weeks after Murtaza's death, also suspected Benazir and Zardari's involvement. Several of Pakistan's leading newspapers alleged that Zardari wanted his brother-in-law out of the way because of Murtaza's activities as head of a breakaway faction of the PPP.
When Bhutto announced in September 2007 her upcoming return to Pakistan, her husband was in New York City undergoing medical treatment. After the October 2007 bombing in Karachi that tainted Bhutto's return, he accused Pakistani intelligence services of being behind the attacks and claimed "it was not done by militants". He had not accompanied Bhutto, staying in Dubai with their daughters. Bhutto called for the removal of the chief investigator of the attacks because she claimed he had been involved in Zardari's alleged torture in prison in 1999.
The relationship between the two nations was damaged by the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. He initially denied any links between the perpetrators and Pakistan, but the government soon pursued military action against Lashkar-e-Taiba leaders in a 7 December raid. India cleared Zardari's government of any direct involvement in the attacks, but simultaneously demanded the extradition of 20 Pakistanis which it alleged had taken part in them. Zardari offered to send Inter-Services Intelligence Director-General Ahmed Shuja Pasha to assist in the investigation.
In his first visit to Afghanistan as president in early January 2009, Zardari promised a renewed relationship to improve cooperation. In late March, Obama announced a civilian aid package of $7.5 billion over five years in return for cooperation in the AfPak conflict. In late April, British prime minister Gordon Brown visited Zardari and promised $1 billion over the next four years. In May, Obama held a trilateral summit in Washington D.C., with Karzai and Zardari, where they discussed further cooperation. At Brussels in mid-June, Zardari unsuccessfully sought trade concessions from the European Union; it instead pledged $90 million development aid to curtail tribal influence by insurgents. After the U.S. Congress passed Obama's civilian aid package in October, army generals in the Pakistani military establishment widened the growing rift with Zardari's government and openly criticised U.S. interference. In February 2009, FATA's provincial government officially declared Islamic law in Swat to achieve a ceasefire with the northwestern Pashtun tribes. Because the United States and Britain opposed the measure, Zardari did not sign the Swat ceasefire until mid-April, when domestic pressure from Parliament mounted. By the end of April, the agreement collapsed as the Pakistani military pursued an unpopular offensive in the neighbouring Dir district.
In July 2017, during the investigation of the Panama Papers case, Zardari demanded Nawaz Sharif's resignation. In August 2017, Pakistan's anti-corruption court acquitted him from his last pending case in which he was accused along with his late wife, Benazir Bhutto, of laundering illegal kickbacks and maintaining assets beyond known sources of income. The case had dogged him for 19 years. His rival Imran Khan believed that Zardari's acquittal was the result of a deal between the PML-N and PPP. However he denied any kind of collaboration. The National Accountability Bureau also challenged the acquittal. On 2 September, after his wife's murder case verdict, which declared Pervez Musharraf a fugitive and convicted two senior police officers, he said that he was not satisfied with the verdict and that he would appeal the judgment as it had acquitted five Pakistani Taliban suspects. In 2019, he was arrested in Islamabad over a money laundering case. An anti-graft court issued an indictment of Zardari on corruption charges on 10 August 2020.
His mother died in November 2002, during his detention in jail. His father Hakim Ali Zardari died in May 2011. After that he became the chieftain of the Zardari tribe. However, initially he had decided not to assume leadership and wanted to pass the position to his son Bilawal.
In 2005, Daily Pakistan reported he was the second richest man in Pakistan, with an estimated net worth of $1.8 billion. He amassed great wealth while his wife was prime minister. In 2007, he received US$60 million into his Swiss bank account through offshore companies under his name. He was reported to have estates in Surrey, West End of London, Manhattan (a condominium in Belaire Apartments), and Dubai, and a 16th-century chateau in Normandy. In Britain, he used a common legal device, the purchase of property through nominees with no family link to the Bhuttos. His homes in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad are called Bilawal House I, Bilawal House II, and Zardari House respectively.
He bought a 365-acre (148-hectare) 20-bedroom luxury estate in Rockwood, Surrey in 1995 through a chain of firms, trusts, and offshore companies in 1994. The country home's refurbishment abruptly ended in October 1996, shortly before the end of his wife's second term. He initially denied for eight years that he owned the property, and the bills for the work on the unoccupied mansion were not paid. Creditors forced a liquidation sale in 2004, and the Pakistani government claimed the proceeds because the home had been bought with money obtained through corruption. However, he stepped in to claim that he actually was the beneficial owner. As of November 2008, the proceeds were in a liquidator bank account while a civil case continued.
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| Husband | Benazir Bhutto (m. 1987-2007) |
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Net Worth and Salary
Asif Ali Zardari's net worth is estimated to be approximately $1.8 billion as of 2025. His wealth stems from a combination of inherited assets, business investments, and political influence. He owns significant stakes in sugar mills and real estate across Pakistan, which form the bulk of his fortune.
A major report was published in January 1998 by The New York Times detailing Zardari's vast corruption and misuse of public funds. The report discussed $200 million in kickbacks to Zardari and a Pakistani partner for a $4 billion contract with French military contractor Dassault Aviation, in a deal that fell apart only when the Bhutto government was dismissed. It contained details of two payments of $5 million each by a gold bullion dealer in return for a monopoly on gold imports. It had information from Pakistani investigators that the Bhutto family had allegedly accrued more than $1.5 billion in illicit profits through kickbacks in virtually every sphere of government activity. It also reported Zardari's mid-1990s spending spree, which included hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on jewellery. The arrangements made by the Bhutto family for their wealth relied on Western property companies, Western lawyers, and a network of Western friends. The report described how Zardari had arranged secret contracts, painstaking negotiations, and the dismissal of anyone who objected to his dealings.
Career, Business, and Investments
Zardari's wealth is largely attributed to his business ventures, particularly in the sugar industry. He has substantial investments in sugar mills and real estate, which are major contributors to his net worth. His political career has also played a significant role in his financial success. As one of the richest individuals in Pakistan, his business portfolio extends beyond sugar mills to include other sectors such as agriculture and real estate.
The son of Hakim Ali Zardari, a landowner from Sindh, Zardari rose to prominence after his marriage to Benazir Bhutto in 1987, who became the Prime Minister of Pakistan after her election in 1988. When Bhutto's government was dismissed by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan in 1990, Zardari was widely criticized for involvement in corruption scandals that led to its collapse. When Bhutto was reelected in 1993, Zardari served as Federal Investment Minister and Chairperson of Pakistan Environmental Protection Council. There were increasing tensions between Bhutto's brother Murtaza and Zardari, and Murtaza was killed by police in Karachi on 20 September 1996. Bhutto's government was dismissed a month later by President Farooq Leghari, and Zardari was arrested and indicted for Murtaza's murder and for corruption.
Zardari's initial political career was unsuccessful. In 1983, he lost an election for a district council seat in Nawabshah, a city of Sindh, where his family owned thousands of acres of farmland. He then went into real estate.
In April 1999, Bhutto and Zardari were convicted for receiving indemnities from a Swiss goods inspection company that was hired to end corruption in the collection of customs duties. The couple received a fine of $8.6 million. Both were also sentenced to five years imprisonment, but Bhutto could not be extradited back to Pakistan from her self-imposed exile. Zardari was already in jail awaiting trial on separate charges. The evidence used against them had been gathered by Swiss investigators and the Pakistani Bureau of Accountability.
Presidential elections were held within three weeks after the departure of Musharraf. Zardari vowed to pursue an unpopular campaign against tribal militancy in Pakistan and had the support of the United States. He claimed he had a London business school degree to satisfy a prerequisite for the presidency, but his party did not produce a certificate. He was endorsed by the PPP and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) for the presidency. The PML-N nominated former justice Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui, while the PML-Q put forth Mushahid Hussain Sayed. Zardari won a majority in the Electoral College with 481 of 702 votes. He was elected president on 6 September 2008.
At the inauguration on 9 September 2008, Afghan President Hamid Karzai was a guest of honour, which was a signal for much closer cooperation between the two nations in addressing the tribal insurgency along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. After the election, Zardari promised to approve the constitutional provision that removed the President's power to dismiss Parliament, but public scepticism remained on whether he would actually carry out his promise. His economic competence was questioned after allegations that he had raised grain procurement prices through inflationary subsidies and scrapped the capital gains tax. His first parliamentary speech was overshadowed by 20 September Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing. A few days later, he went to the United Nations Headquarters in New York City on his first overseas trip as president.
From 14 to 17 October 2008, he was in China to negotiate foreign aid, as Pakistan faced the possibility of defaulting on its payments. China refused to offer any aid commitments, but instead promised to provide assistance in the development of two nuclear power plants and more future business investments.
In February 2009, Zardari and the Musharraf-appointed Supreme Court attempted to disqualify Nawaz Sharif from running in any elections and tried to force his brother Shahbaz Sharif to resign as Chief Minister of Punjab province. Zardari dismissed the Punjab provincial government and only partially reinstated the judiciary by restoring 56 other judges deposed by Musharraf—but not their former leader, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. After Nawaz Sharif defied house arrest and rallied with thousands of his supporters, the Sharif brothers vowed to join forces with the Lawyers' Movement in the "Long March". Zardari's government gave in to popular pressure and Prime Minister Gilani in an early morning speech on 16 March 2009 promised to reinstate Chaudhry by 21 March. Ten judges were reinstated on 16 March, and Chaudry assumed his position on 22 March. Zardari's month-long direct control of the Punjab ended on 30 March.
In April 2010, after months of political pressure, the government passed the 18th Amendment, which reduced the President to a ceremonial figurehead by stripping the office of the power to dissolve Parliament, to dismiss the Prime Minister, and to appoint military chiefs. The amendment also lifted the restriction of two terms as prime minister, which enabled Zardari's foremost political rival, Nawaz Sharif, to seek a third term. The amendment was passed with virtually unanimous support in Parliament and Zardari himself espoused the legislation because of political pressure. After the 18th Amendment, Zardari's main power derived from his position as leader of the PPP, which controls the largest bloc in Parliament.
Social Network
Zardari is not typically known for his active presence on social media platforms. However, his political influence and public stature are well-recognized in Pakistan and globally.
From 23 to 26 September 2008, he met with various foreign leaders, including U.S. President George W. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao. He suffered political embarrassment by flirting with U.S. vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and making tongue-in-cheek comments about her. Although, at the United Nations General Assembly, he publicly condemned U.S drone attacks in Pakistan, The Washington Post reported that he had signed a "secret deal" when he met with senior American officials that arranged for the coordination of Predator strikes and a jointly approved list of prominent targets. He and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to resume peace talks by the end of 2008.
His mental health has been a subject of controversy. He has repeatedly claimed he was tortured while in prison. He was diagnosed with dementia, major depressive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder from 2005 to 2007, which helped influence the verdict of one of his corruption trials. He now claims he is completely healthy, with only high blood pressure and diabetes.
Education
Zardari's educational background includes time at Cadet College, Petaro, and St. Patrick's High School, Karachi. However, detailed information about his educational qualifications is limited.
In conclusion, Asif Ali Zardari's political and business career has been instrumental in building his wealth and influence in Pakistan. His net worth, business ventures, and political legacy continue to shape his public image and economic status in the country.
Citibank, already under fire for its private-banking practices, got into further trouble as a result of the report. Zardari's financial history was one case study in a 1999 U.S. Senate report on vulnerabilities in banking procedures.
He had sent large shipments from Karachi in the 1990s for the refurbishment of Surrey Palace. He has faced allegations from various people, including the daughter of Laila Shahzada, that he acquired stolen art to decorate the palace. He earlier had plans for a helipad, a nine-hole golf course, and a polo pony paddock.
