Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in India today: A look at the legacy of his family

SCO Foreign Ministers' meeting: A Pakistani foreign minister will attend a meeting in India after 12 years, but Bhutto Zardari comes with a long political legacy

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers' meeting will take place in Goa today. For the first time in 12 years, a Pakistani foreign minister will visit India for the meeting. Pakistan's foreign ministry earlier said that Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will lead the Pakistani delegation to the meeting.

In 2011, then Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar visited India. She met her Indian counterpart S M Krishna in New Delhi.

"Our participation at the meeting reflects Pakistan's continued commitment to the SCO charter and process and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities," Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said.

There is no clarity if External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will hold a bilateral meeting with Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. Bhutto-Zardari, however, said last month that his visit should not be seen as a bilateral meeting.

"We are committed to the SCO charter and this visit should not be seen as a bilateral one but in the context of the SCO," he said.

But Bhutto-Zardari will visit India with a long legacy and amid the ties between India and Pakistan at a historically low.

Legacy of the Bhutto-Zardari family

Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is the son of Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari. Benazir Bhutto served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988-90 and 1993-96. Asif Zardari served as the 11th president of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013. He was also a part of the Bhutto cabinet in both of her terms.

Benazir's father and Bilawal's grandfather, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was elected the PM of Pakistan in 1973 but was later ousted and executed in 1979 under the Zia-ul-Haq regime.

In 1996, when Benazir's cabinet was dismissed by Parvez Musharraf, Zardari was arrested and jailed on corruption charges. He was released in 2004 and went into self-exile in Dubai till 2007.

In 1998, Benazir also went into self-exile. Following negotiations, brokered by the United States of America (USA), she returned to Pakistan to stand in the elections against Musharraf.

On December 27, 2007, she was assassinated in a suicide blast while leaving a rally in Rawalpindi.    

After her death, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari was named the chairman of Pakistan's oldest democratic party, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), at the age of just 19. PPP was founded by Zulfikar. The party relies on Bhutto's name and goodwill for support.

Zardari was elected as the PM of Pakistan in the 2008 elections. However, his tenure was marked by allegations of corruption and misgovernment. In 2013, PPP was voted out of power by Nawaz Sharif's party, the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N).

Sharif was also jailed on corruption charges under the Imran Khan government that was elected to power in 2018. Now, Sharif's sibling Shehbaz Sharif is the prime minister and Bhutto Zardari is the foreign minister in the cabinet. Notably, last year when he was chosen in the cabinet, Bhutto-Zardari became the youngest foreign minister of the country at 33 years of age.