Asif Ali Zardari

President of Pakistan

Born: 26 July 1955

Profession: Politician

Affiliation(s): Paksitan Peoples Party
Citizenship: Pakistani

Asif Ali Zardari (born 26 July 1955) is the 14th and current President of Pakistan and the Co-Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Zardari is the widower of Benazir Bhutto, who twice served as Prime Minister of Pakistan. When his wife was assassinated in December 2007, he became the leader of the Pakistan People''s Party. He is one of the richest men in Pakistan with an estimated net worth of US$1.8 billion (2005).

Early life and education
Asif Ali Zardari belongs to a Shia Muslim Sindhi Baloch (Sindhi speaking) family from Sindh.He was born in Karachi and is the son of Hakim Ali Zardari, head of one of the Sindhi tribes,who chose urban life over rustic surroundings. His mother is from the family of Khan Bahadur Hassan Ali, who was among the founders of the first educational institution in Sindh, "Sindh Madarsa-tul-Islam Karachi".

Zardari received his primary education from Karachi Grammar School and his secondary education from Cadet College, Petaro. Zardari also attended St Patrick's High School, Karachi. While a candidate for parliament, a position for which a 2002 rule requires a college degree, Zardari claimed to have graduated from a college in London called the London School of Economics and Business (LSEB). The 2002 rule was overturned by Pakistan's Supreme Court in April 2008.

Political career
Asif once served as a member of the National Assembly, and he was at one point the Minister of Environment during his wife's second term as the Prime Minister (1993-1996). Initially he was very interested in the Finance Ministry, but Bhutto opted to put him in a non-revenue generating department instead. During his time as the Environment Minister, he claimed in a televised news conference on STN that “Every school in Pakistan had an Environment & Forestry department which had motivated every student to plant one tree”.

He also served as a Senator until the October 1999 coup by General Pervez Musharraf, in which Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was ousted and the Senate and assemblies were both dissolved.

Co-chairman of the PPP
Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on 27 December 2007, shortly after returning to Pakistan from exile. On 30 December 2007, Asif Ali Zardari became the co-chairman of the PPP, along with his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is currently studying at Oxford.

President of Pakistan

Zardari was elected president of Pakistan, as Chief election commissioner Qazi Mohammad Farooq announced that "Asif Ali Zardari secured 281 votes out of the 426 valid votes polled in the parliament,"

Political portfolio includes:
Member National Assembly 1990-93
Member National Assembly 1993-96
Federal Minister 1993
Federal Minister 1995-96
Senator 1997 – 1999
President Of Pakistan 2008 –

Prison
Zardari has spent a total of 11 years in prison. He says that the charges are politically motivated. Throughout this time Zardari's lawyer has been Farooq H. Naek who has played a major role in his release.