Mumtaz Ali Khan Bhutto ( ur, ممتاز علی بھٹو , sd, ممتاز علي ڀٽو) (28 November 1933 – 18 July 2021), was a Pakistani politician who served as 8th Governor of Sindh and later the 13th Chief Minister of Sindh. He was also the first cousin of late
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and Politician, statesman who served as ...
, who was the Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1973 to 1977.
Personal life
Mumtaz Ali Bhutto was born on 28 November 1933 in the village of Pir Bux Bhutto,
Larkana District
Larkana District (Sindhi language, Sindhi: ضلعو لاڙڪاڻو; ur, ) is a district of Sindh province of Pakistan. Its main city is Larkana on the banks of the Indus River. It is home district the of influential Bhutto family. The Larkana B ...
,
Sindh
Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
,
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
. Before the
partition
Partition may refer to:
Computing Hardware
* Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive
* Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job
Software
* Partition (database), the division of a ...
his father
Nawab Nabi Bux Khan Bhutto
Nawab Nabi Bux Khan Bhutto (2 January 1887 – 6 December 1965) was the Pakistani lawyer and political leader who was the member of legislative assembly before Partition of India from unknown date to 14 August 1947. He was also the brother o ...
was a member of the legislative assembly and had a strong political background.
Bhutto attended St George's College in
Mussoorie
Mussoorie is a hill station and a municipal board, near Dehradun city in the Dehradun district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is about from the state capital of Dehradun and north of the national capital of New Delhi. The hill st ...
and then Lawrence College,
Murree
Murree ( Punjabi, Urdu: مری) is a mountain resort city, located in the Galyat region of the Pir Panjal Range, within the Muree District of Punjab, Pakistan. It forms the outskirts of the Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area, and is about ...
, after the
independence of Pakistan
The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslim-majority areas of British India. It was connected to the per ...
. He earned his barrister degree from
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...
, and undergraduate and master's degrees in 1959 from
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.
He had four children including politician
Ameer Bux Bhutto
Sardar Ameer Buksh Khan Bhutto (, ur, امیر بخش خان بھٹو ;) is President of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Sindh and an ex-Member of the Sindh Assembly. He is the son of Sardar Mumtaz Bhutto.
and after the death of Sardar Mumtaz Bhutt ...
and journalist Ali Haider Bhutto.
Political career
Bhutto became a member of the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
at the age of 32 years on 5 March 1965. When he and his cousin
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the fourth ...
announced a new political party,
Pakistan Peoples Party
The Pakistan People's Party ( ur, , ; PPP) is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third largest party in the National Assembly and second largest in the Senate of Pakistan. The party was founded ...
(PPP) on 30 March 1967, he also became the founding member and principal executive committee member of the party.
He and his cousin Zulfikar Ali Bhutto fought the election of 17 March 1970 against
Muhammad Ayub Khuhro
Muhammad Ayub Khuhro () (14 August 1901 – 1980) was a Pakistani politician who served as the Chief Minister of Sindh for three terms, and as the Defence Minister in the Feroz Khan Noon Ministry.
In 1946, Khuhro was elected by the Sindh P ...
and
Qazi Fazlullah Ubaidullah
Qazi Fazal Ullah ( ur, قاضی فضل الله عبيد الله ) was a politician from Sindh, Pakistan.
Qazi Fazal Ullah was Chief Minister of Sindh
Chief Minister of Sindh (, ur, —), is the elected head of government of Sindh. Sye ...
. He earned a victory against Qazi Fazlullah.
His cousin,
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the fourth ...
, became the first democratically elected
Prime Minister of Pakistan
The prime minister of Pakistan ( ur, , romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen cabinet, despite the president of Paki ...
and Mumtaz Ali Bhutto became
Governor of Sindh
The governor of Sindh is the appointed head of the province of Sindh, Pakistan. The office of the governor as the head of the province is largely a ceremonial position; the executive powers lie with the Chief Minister of Sindh, chief minister and t ...
on 24 December 1971, then
Chief Minister of Sindh
Chief Minister of Sindh (, ur, —), is the elected head of government of Sindh. Syed Murad Ali Shah is a PPP politician and the current Chief Minister of Sindh.
The Chief Minister is the head of the provincial government alongside the Chief S ...
Province on 1 May 1972. His cousin always used to call him a "talented cousin".
Citing differences with
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...
, Bhutto split from
Pakistan Peoples Party
The Pakistan People's Party ( ur, , ; PPP) is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third largest party in the National Assembly and second largest in the Senate of Pakistan. The party was founded ...
and created his own party,
Sindh National Front
Sindh National Front (S.N.F.) was a political party active in the province of Sindh, Pakistan. It was led by Mumtaz Bhutto, the cousin of Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, ex-Prime Minister of Pakistan, who was hanged by President of Pakistan, President Mu ...
(SNF) in 1989. In May 2012, prior to the
2013 Pakistani general election
General elections were held in Pakistan on Saturday 11 May 2013 to elect the members of the 14th National Assembly and the four Provincial Assemblies. The three major parties were the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) led by Nawaz Sharif, t ...
, he announced his party's alliance with the
Pakistan Muslim League (N)
The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) ( ur, , translit=Pākistān Muslim Līg (Nūn) PML(N) or PML-N) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right and Liberal conservatism, liberal conservative political party in Pakistan. Alongside the Pakistan Teh ...
(PML-N). In August 2016, Bhutto quit the PML-N and revived the Sindh National Front. In November 2017, prior to the
2018 Pakistani general election
General elections were held in Pakistan on Wednesday, 25 July 2018 to elect the members of 15th National Assembly and the four Provincial Assemblies. The three major parties Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led by Imran Khan, the Pakistan Muslim ...
, he merged SNF with the
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI; ur, , ) is a political party in Pakistan. It was founded in 1996 by Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who served as the country's prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The PTI is one of the thre ...
.
Chief Ministership
As a Chief Minister, he announced
Sindhi language
Sindhi ( ; , ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 30 million people in the Pakistani province of Sindh, where it has official status. It is also spoken by a further 1.7 million people in India, where it is a Scheduled languages of India ...
as the official language of the Province.
Sindhi Language Bill, 1972
Sindhi Language Bill, 1972 was introduced by the Chief Minister Mumtaz Bhutto on July 3, 1972 in the Sindh Assembly, Pakistan. The 1972 Language violence in Sindh occurred starting on July 7, 1972, when the Sindh Assembly passed the Sind Teaching ...
was introduced by the
Chief Minister
A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...
Mumtaz Bhutto on 3 July 1972, in the
Sindh Assembly
The Provincial Assembly of Sindh ( ur, ) is a unicameral legislature of elected representatives of the Pakistani province of Sindh, and is located in Karachi, the provincial capital. It was established under Article 106 of the Constitution o ...
, Pakistan. The
1972 Language violence in Sindh
1972 Language violence in Sindh occurred starting on 7 July 1972 when the Sindh Assembly passed The Sindhi Teaching, Promotion and Use of Sindhi Language Bill, 1972 which established Sindhi language as the sole official language of the province re ...
occurred starting on 7 July 1972, when the
Sindh Assembly
The Provincial Assembly of Sindh ( ur, ) is a unicameral legislature of elected representatives of the Pakistani province of Sindh, and is located in Karachi, the provincial capital. It was established under Article 106 of the Constitution o ...
Sindhi language
Sindhi ( ; , ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 30 million people in the Pakistani province of Sindh, where it has official status. It is also spoken by a further 1.7 million people in India, where it is a Scheduled languages of India ...
as the sole official language of the province resulting in language violence in
Sindh
Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
. Due to the clashes,
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the fourth ...
Sindhi will both be official languages of Sindh. The making of Sindhi as an equal language to Urdu for official purposes frustrated the Urdu-speaking people as they did not speak the
Sindhi language
Sindhi ( ; , ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 30 million people in the Pakistani province of Sindh, where it has official status. It is also spoken by a further 1.7 million people in India, where it is a Scheduled languages of India ...
. On 7 March 1977 he won a
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
seat and became a Federal Minister. In the year of 1977, his cousin nominated him as president of 'PPP-Sindh'. He was arrested during the struggle against the arrest of his cousin and then exiled by General
Zia
Zia or ZIA (also spelled Ziya, Ḍiya , Dia or Diya) may refer to:
People
* Zia (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name
** A romanization of the Wu ( Shanghainese) pronunciation of the Chinese surname Xie (謝)
...
's government. On 31 March 1985 he announced a new political Alliance named "
Sindhi–Baloch–Pashtun Front
The Sindhi–Baloch–Pashtun Front (SBPF) was formed in London on 31 March 1985 by Afzal Bangash, Ataullah Mengal, Mumtaz Bhutto and others to counter what they perceived as a Punjabi establishment's hegemony of Pakistan
Pakistan ( u ...
" at
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
to propagate ethnic nationalism in Pakistan. He also announced support for a new constitutional framework for Pakistan as a weak federation. He became the convenor of the alliance for Pakistan, returned to Pakistan, and once again was arrested by the military government of Zia. On 31 March 1989, he called the workers' convention at Hyderabad Sindh and announced a new political party named '
Sindh National Front
Sindh National Front (S.N.F.) was a political party active in the province of Sindh, Pakistan. It was led by Mumtaz Bhutto, the cousin of Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, ex-Prime Minister of Pakistan, who was hanged by President of Pakistan, President Mu ...
'. He was elected to a seat in the provincial assembly from Larkana on 6 October 1993. On 6 November 1996, he became the caretaker
Chief Minister of Sindh
Chief Minister of Sindh (, ur, —), is the elected head of government of Sindh. Syed Murad Ali Shah is a PPP politician and the current Chief Minister of Sindh.
The Chief Minister is the head of the provincial government alongside the Chief S ...
.
Political views
Mumtaz Bhutto has been a critic of
Asif Ali Zardari
Asif Ali Zardari ( ur, ; sd, ; born 26 July 1955) is a Pakistani politician who is the president of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians and was the co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party. He served as the 11th president of Pakistan ...
who he accused of corruption and usurping the
Pakistan Peoples Party
The Pakistan People's Party ( ur, , ; PPP) is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third largest party in the National Assembly and second largest in the Senate of Pakistan. The party was founded ...
by using the Bhutto family name to gain power.
Death
Mumtaz Bhutto was suffering from multiple diseases in lungs and cardiac issues and he was admitted in a private Hospital of Karachi. He expired on 18 Jul 2021 at Karachi and he was buried at his native graveyard at Larkana.
Bhutto family
The Bhutto family ( ur, بھُٹو خاندان; sd, ڀُٽو خاندان) is a prominent political family and among the most powerful families in Pakistan, based in the Pakistani province of Sindh. The Bhuttos have played a prominent role in Pak ...
Mumtaz
Mumtaz ( ar, ممتاز) is a name commonly used in various countries in the Muslim world, mainly Afghanistan, Brunei, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Turkey. It can also be used as a female name. ''Mumtazah'' is a related female versio ...