Asif Ali Zardari’s birthday celebrated
Islamabad: The Pakistan People’s Party on Friday celebrated 64rth birthday of former President Asif Ali
Zardari.
The PPP held functions across the country to mark the day. Zardari – presently detained – served as the 11th
President of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013, the first president born after partition. He is member of National Assembly of Pakistan since August 2018.
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 re-elected in 1993, Zardari served as Federal Investment Minister and Chairperson of
Pakistan Environmental Protection Council.
Although incarcerated, he nominally served in Parliament after being elected to the National Assembly in 1990 and Senate in 1997.
He was released from jail in 2004 and went into self-exile to Dubai, but returned when Bhutto was
assassinated on 27 December 2007.
As the new Co-Chairman of the PPP, he led his party to victory in the 2008 general elections. He spearheaded
a coalition that forced military ruler Pervez Musharraf to resign, and was elected President on 6 September
- He was acquitted of various criminal charges the same year.
