Hakim Ali Zardari (9 December 1930 – 24 May 2011), ur, ) was a Pakistani politician who served as a member of

National Assembly of Pakistan The National Assembly ( ur, , translit=Aiwān-e-Zairīñ, , or ur, قومی اسمبلی, Romanization, romanized: ''Qaumi Assembly'') is the lower house, lower legislative house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, which al ...

from 1972 to 1977 and again from 1988 to 1990 and then again from 1993 to 1996.

Early life

He was born on 9 December 1930 in the village of Fatohal Zardari to Mohammad Hussain Zardari. His father's family were from the

Zardari tribe Zardari is a Baloch tribe from Pakistan. Zardari tribe originally belongs to a clan living in Sindh and Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and ...

of Baluchistan and was recruited by the British to be

zamindars A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...

in Sindh. His mother was originally from

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. He received his initial education from mosque school and completed his matriculation from DC High School in Nawabshah.

Political career

Zardari started his political career in 1965 when he was elected member of the Nawabshah District Council and later was elected as the Mayor of District Nawabshah. He supported

Fatima Jinnah Fatima Jinnah ( ur, ; 31 July 1893 – 9 July 1967), widely known as Māder-e Millat ("Mother of the Nation"), was a Pakistani stateswoman, politician, dental surgeon and one of the leading founders of Pakistan. She was the younger sister of ...

in the 1965 presidential elections against

Ayub Khan Ayub Khan is a compound masculine name; Ayub is the Arabic version of the name of the Biblical figure Job, while Khan or Khaan is taken from the title used first by the Mongol rulers and then, in particular, their Islamic and Persian-influenced s ...

. In 1970, he joined 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 ...

as a founding member. He also got elected head of the

in 1970. He was elected to the

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

, and

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. He was imprisoned during the tenures of

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi language, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime ...

and Pervaiz Musharraf and was implicated with his son for the murder of

Federal Secretary The federal secretary (also referred to as the secretary to the Government of Pakistan) is the highest-ranking position in the Government of Pakistan, occupied by the most senior civil servant in a specific ministry or division. The secretary is ...

Alam Baloch.

Business career and wealth

He built cinema houses in Hyderabad and Karachi and worked as a film distributor. He also produced a Sindhi film, ''Soorat''. He had a house in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, France which he was accused of buying for 724 million dollars. The

National Accountability Bureau The National Accountability Bureau ( ur, ; abbreviated NAB) is an autonomous and constitutionally established federal institution responsible to build efforts against corruption and prepare critical national economic intelligence assessments ...

filed a reference against him for having assets beyond source of income and was sentenced for five years of rigorous imprisonment, a fine of 18.5 million rupees and disqualified him from holding any elected office for 10 years. On health ground his house was declared as sub-jail. On 24 January 2007,

Sindh High Court The High Court of Sindh ( ur, ) is the highest judicial institution of the Pakistani province of Sindh. Established in 1906, the Court situated in the provincial capital at Karachi. Apart from being the highest Court of Appeal for Sindh in ...

overturned his conviction made by the accountability bureau. He was also convicted in similar case in Lahore for making shady transactions with various organisations for establishing a tourist village at Rawalpindi National Park through Zardari Group. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail and asked to pay a fine of 20 million rupees but this was also overturned by

Lahore High Court The Lahore High Court () is based in Lahore, Pakistan. It was established as a high court on 21 March 1882. The Lahore High Court has jurisdiction over Punjab (Pakistan). The High Court's principal seat is in Lahore, but there are benches in th ...

in 2002.

Personal life

He married twice—Bilquis Sultana (died November 2002) and Zareen Ara (died 22 June 2022)—and had four children—

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 ...

, Fouzia Zardari,

Azra Peechoho Azra Fazal Pechuho (; born 21 February 1953) is a Pakistani politician who is the current Provincial Minister of Sindh for Health, and Population Welfare, in office since 19 August 2018. She has been a member of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh ...

and

Faryal Talpur Faryal Talpur (; born 26 April 1958) is a Pakistani politician who had been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from 2008 to May 2018. Early life Talpur was born on 28 April 1958 in Nawabshah, Pakistan to Hakim Ali Zardari and Bilquis ...

. He also had an adopted son Owais Muzaffar.

Death

Hakim Ali Zardari was admitted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in March following multiple organ failure. He died in the hospital on 24 May 2011 at age 80.

References

External links

Hakim Ali Zardari dies at 81 – The Nations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zardari, Hakim Ali 1930 births 2011 deaths Baloch politicians Pakistani industrialists Pakistani landowners Pakistan People's Party politicians Pakistani prisoners and detainees Pakistani people of Iraqi descent Pakistani politicians convicted of corruption Overturned convictions in Pakistan Pakistani MNAs 1972–1977 Pakistani MNAs 1988–1990 Pakistani MNAs 1993–1996 People from Shaheed Benazir Abad District Tumandars Hakim