Zardari was born on 26 July 1955 in Karachi, Sindh in the Zardari family. He is of Baloch origin, belonging to a Jat clan of the Sindhi-speaking Zardari tribe. He is the only son of Hakim Ali Zardari, a tribal chief and prominent landowner, and Bilquis Sultana Zardari. His paternal grandmother was of Iraqi descent, while his mother was the granddaughter of Hassan Ali Effendi, a Sindhi educationist who is known as the founder of the Sindh Madressatul Islam.

In his youth, he enjoyed polo and boxing. He led a polo team known as the Zardari Four. His father owned Bambino—a famous cinema in Karachi—and donated movie equipment to his school. He also appeared in a 1969 movie, Salgira, as a child artist. Zardari’s academic background remains a question mark. He received his primary education from Karachi Grammar School. His official biography says he graduated from Cadet College, Petaro in 1972. He went to St Patrick’s High School, Karachi from 1973 to 1974; a school clerk says he failed his final examination there. In March 2008, he claimed he had graduated from the London School of Business Studies with a bachelor of education degree in the early 1970s. Zardari’s official biography states he also attended Pedinton School in Britain. His British education, however, has not been confirmed, and a search did not turn up any Pedinton School in London. The issue of his diploma was contentious because a 2002 rule required candidates for Parliament to hold a college degree, but the rule was overturned by Pakistan’s Supreme Court in April 2008.

Zardari’s initial political career was unsuccessful. In 1983, he lost an election for a district council seat in Nawabshah, a city of Sindh, where his family owned thousands of acres of farmland. He then went into real estate.

He married Benazir Bhutto on 18 December 1987. The arranged marriage, done in accordance with Pakistani culture, was initially considered an unlikely match. The lavish sunset ceremony in Karachi was followed by immense night celebrations that included over 100,000 people. The marriage enhanced Bhutto’s political position in a country where older unmarried women are frowned upon. Zardari deferred to his wife’s wishes by agreeing to stay out of politics.

In 1988, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq died in a plane crash. A few months later, Bhutto became Pakistan’s first female Prime Minister when her party won 94 of 207 seats contested in the 1988 elections.

After the dismissal of Bhutto’s government in August 1990, Benazir Bhutto and Zardari were prohibited from leaving the country by security forces under the direction of the Pakistan Army. During the interim government between August and October, caretaker Prime Minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, a Bhutto rival, initiated investigations of corruption by the Bhutto administration. Jatoi accused Zardari of using his wife’s political position to charge a ten percent commission for obtaining permission to set up any project or to receive loans. He was tagged with the nickname “Mr. Ten Percent”.

He was arrested on 10 October 1990 on charges relating to kidnapping and extortion. The charges alleged an extortion scheme that involved tying a supposed bomb to a British businessman’s leg. The Bhutto family considered the indictment politically motivated and fabricated. In the October 1990 elections, he was elected to the National Assembly while in jail. Bhutto and the PPP staged a walkout from the inaugural session of the National Assembly to protest Zardari’s incarceration. He posted $20,000 bail, but his release was blocked by a government ordinance that removed a court’s power to release suspects being tried in the terrorist court, which fast-track trials for alleged terrorists. The ordinance was later revoked and a special court acquitted him of bank fraud and conspiracy to murder political opponents. He was freed in February 1993. In March 1994, Zardari was acquitted of bank fraud charges. All other corruption charges relating to Bhutto’s first term were dropped or thrown out of the courts.

Zardari and Benazir Bhutto had one son and two daughters. His son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, is the current Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party. His older daughter, Bakhtawar, was born on 25 January 1990, and his younger daughter, Aseefa, was born on 2 February 1993. After Benazir Bhutto’s death, his sister Faryal Talpur became the guardian of his children and he changed Bilawal Zardari’s name to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

On 25 March 1991, the hijackers aboard Singapore Airlines Flight 117 demanded Zardari’s release among other demands. The hijackers were killed by Singapore Commandos.

In April 1993, he became one of the 18 cabinet ministers in the caretaker government that succeeded Nawaz Sharif’s first abridged premiership. The caretaker government lasted until the July elections. After Bhutto’s election, he served as her Investment Minister, chief of the intelligence bureau, and the head of the Federal Investigation Agency. In February 1994, Benazir sent Zardari to meet with Saddam Hussein in Iraq to deliver medicine in exchange for three detained Pakistanis arrested on the ambiguous Kuwait-Iraq border. In April 1994, Zardari denied allegations that he was wielding unregulated influence as a spouse and acting as “de-facto Prime Minister”. In March 1995, he was appointed chairman of the new Environment Protection Council.

He bought a 365-acre (148-hectare) 20-bedroom luxury estate in Rockwood, Surrey in 1995 through a chain of firms, trusts, and offshore companies in 1994. The country home’s refurbishment abruptly ended in October 1996, shortly before the end of his wife’s second term. He initially denied for eight years that he owned the property and no one paid the bills for the work on the unoccupied mansion. Creditors forced a liquidation sale in 2004 and the Pakistani government claimed the proceeds because the home had been bought with money obtained through corruption. However, he stepped in to claim that he actually was the beneficial owner. As of November 2008, the proceeds were in a liquidator bank account while a civil case continues.

During the beginning of the second Bhutto Administration, a Bhutto family feud between Benazir and her mother, Nusrat Bhutto, surfaced over the political future of Murtaza Bhutto, Nusrat’s son and Benazir’s younger brother. Benazir thanked Zardari for his support. In September 1996, Murtaza and seven others died in a shootout with police in Karachi, while the city was undergoing a three-year civil war. At Murtaza’s funeral, Nusrat accused Benazir and Zardari of being responsible and vowed to pursue prosecution. Ghinwa Bhutto, Murtaza’s widow, also accused Zardari of being behind his killing. President Farooq Leghari, who would dismiss the Bhutto government seven weeks after Murtaza’s death, also suspected Benazir and Zardari’s involvement. Several of Pakistan’s leading newspapers alleged that Zardari wanted his brother-in-law out of the way because of Murtaza’s activities as head of a breakaway faction of the PPP.

In November 1996, Bhutto’s government was dismissed by Leghari primarily because of corruption and Murtaza’s death. Zardari was arrested in Lahore while attempting to flee the country to Dubai.

In March 1997, Zardari was elected to the Senate while in a Karachi jail. In December 1997, he was flown to Islamabad under tight security to take his oath.

A major report was published in January 1998 by The New York Times detailing Zardari’s vast corruption and misuse of public funds. The report discussed $200 million in kickbacks to Zardari and a Pakistani partner for a $4 billion contract with French military contractor Dassault Aviation, in a deal that fell apart only when the Bhutto government was dismissed. It contained details of two payments of $5 million each by a gold bullion dealer in return for a monopoly on gold imports. It had information from Pakistani investigators that the Bhutto family had allegedly accrued more than $1.5 billion in illicit profits through kickbacks in virtually every sphere of government activity. It also reported Zardari’s mid-1990s spending spree, which included hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on jewellery. The arrangements made by the Bhutto family for their wealth relied on Western property companies, Western lawyers, and a network of Western friends. The report described how Zardari had arranged secret contracts, painstaking negotiations, and the dismissal of anyone who objected to his dealings.

In July 1998, he was indicted for corruption in Pakistan after the Swiss government handed over documents to Pakistani authorities relating to money laundering. The Swiss had also indicted him for money laundering. At the same time, in a separate case, he and 18 others were indicted for conspiracy to murder Murtaza Bhutto. After criminal prosecutions began, Citibank closed Zardari’s account.

Citibank, already under fire for its private-banking practices, got into further trouble as a result of the report. Zardari’s financial history was one case study in a 1999 U.S. Senate report on vulnerabilities in banking procedures.

In April 1999, Bhutto and Zardari were convicted for receiving indemnities from a Swiss goods inspection company that was hired to end corruption in the collection of customs duties. The couple received a fine of $8.6 million. Both were also sentenced to five years imprisonment, but Bhutto could not be extradited back to Pakistan from her self-imposed exile. Zardari was already in jail awaiting trial on separate charges. The evidence used against them had been gathered by Swiss investigators and the Pakistani Bureau of Accountability.

In May 1999, he was hospitalised after an alleged attempted suicide. He claimed it was a murder attempt by the police.

His mother died in November 2002, during his detention in jail. His father Hakim Ali Zardari died in May 2011. After that he became the chieftain of the Zardari tribe. However, initially he had decided not to assume leadership and wanted to pass the position to his son Bilawal.

In August 2003, a Swiss judge convicted Bhutto and Zardari of money laundering and sentenced them to six months imprisonment and a fine of $50,000. In addition, they were required to return $11 million to the Pakistani government. The conviction involved charges relating to kickbacks from two Swiss firms in exchange for customs fraud. In France, Poland, and Switzerland, the couple faced additional allegations.

In November 2004, he was released on bail by court order. A month later, he was unexpectedly arrested for failing to show up for a hearing on a murder case in Islamabad. He was placed under house arrest in Karachi. A day later, he was released on $5,000 bail. His release, rearrest, and then release again was regarded as a sign of growing reconciliation between Musharraf’s government and the PPP. After his second release in late 2004, he left for exile in Dubai.

He returned to Lahore in April 2005. Police prevented him from holding rallies by escorting him from the airport to his home. He criticised Musharraf’s government, but rumours of reconciliation between Musharraf and the PPP grew. Zardari went back to Dubai in May 2005.

In June 2005, he suffered a heart attack and was treated in the United Arab Emirates. A PPP spokesman stated he underwent angioplasty in the United States. In September 2005, he did not show up for a Rawalpindi hearing on corruption charges; the court issued an arrest warrant. His lawyers stated he could not come because he was recovering from his treatment. Following a request by the Rawalpindi court, Interpol issued a red notice in January 2006 against the couple which called on member nations to decide on the couple’s extradition.

In 2005, Daily Pakistan reported he was the second richest man in Pakistan with an estimated net worth of $1.8 billion. He amassed great wealth while his wife was Prime Minister. In 2007, he received $60 million in his Swiss bank account through offshore companies under his name. He was reported to have estates in Surrey, West End of London, Normandy, Manhattan (a condominium in Belaire Apartments), and Dubai, as well as a 16th-century chateau in Normandy. In Britain, he used a common legal device—the purchase of property through nominees with no family link to the Bhuttos. His homes in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad are called Bilawal House I, Bilawal House II, and Zardari House respectively.

When Bhutto announced in September 2007 her upcoming return to Pakistan, her husband was in New York City undergoing medical treatment. After the October 2007 bombing in Karachi that tainted Bhutto’s return, he accused Pakistani intelligence services of being behind the attacks and claimed “it was not done by militants”. He had not accompanied Bhutto, staying in Dubai with their daughters. Bhutto called for the removal of the chief investigator of the attacks because she claimed he had been involved in Zardari’s alleged torture in prison in 1999.

In November 2007, Musharraf instituted emergency rule for six weeks (see Pakistani state of emergency, 2007), under the pretext of rising Islamist militancy, a few days after Bhutto’s departure for Dubai to meet with Zardari. Immediately after the state of emergency was invoked, Bhutto returned to Pakistan, while Zardari again stayed behind in Dubai. Emergency rule was initiated right before the Supreme Court of Pakistan began deliberations on the legality of Musharraf’s U.S.-backed proposal—the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO)—to drop corruption charges against Bhutto and Zardari in return for a joint Bhutto-Musharraf coalition to govern Pakistan. Bhutto and Zardari sympathised with Musharraf on his feud with the Supreme Court, but simultaneously criticised the imposition of martial law. Before the Supreme Court could issue a decision, Musharraf replaced its members with his supporters.

In the midst of his exile, Zardari had several different legal problems. In Pakistan, Musharraf granted him amnesty for his alleged offences through the National Reconciliation Ordinance, drafted in October 2007. However, the ordinance faced mounting public pressure and an uncompromising judiciary. In addition, it only dealt with charges up to 1999. This left open the possibility of investigations into his alleged involvement in about $2 million in illegal kickbacks to Saddam Hussein, discovered in October 2005, under the oil-for-food program. If the ordinance was rescinded, he would have had to deal with charges relating to evading duties on an armoured BMW, commissions from a Polish tractor manufacturer, and a kickback from a gold bullion dealer. In Switzerland, Bhutto and Zardari appealed the 2003 Swiss conviction, which required the reopening of the case in October 2007. In November 2007, Swiss authorities returned the frozen $60 million to him through offshore companies because of the National Reconciliation Ordinance. In Spain, a criminal investigation was opened over the money laundering for the oil-for-food program because of the illicit profits handled through Spanish firms. In Britain, he was fighting a civil case against the Pakistani government for the proceeds from the liquidation sale of a Surrey mansion. He successfully used his medical diagnosis to postpone a verdict on his British manor trial.

Zardari called for no delays to the 8 January parliamentary elections and for the participation of all opposition parties. Other major political parties quickly agreed to participate, ending any chance of a boycott. Because of the turmoil after the Bhutto assassination, the elections were postponed six weeks to 18 February. In January 2008, he suggested that if his party did win a majority, it might form a coalition with Musharraf’s Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q). He and Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) party (PML-N), threatened national protests if any vote-rigging was attempted. He himself could not run for Parliament because he had not filed election papers in November 2008, back when he had no foreseeable political ambition while Bhutto was alive.

After weeks of speculation and party infighting, he said he did not want to become Prime Minister. In mid-March 2008, he chose Yousaf Raza Gillani for Prime Minister in a snub to the more politically powerful Makhdoom Amin Fahim.

He and Sharif met in Lahore in June 2008 to discuss Musharraf’s removal and the constitutional amendments, which the PML-N viewed as not going far enough to fulfill the Murree declaration. He opposed impeachment calls because he claimed the coalition did not have the two-thirds majority in both legislative bodies—National Assembly and Senate. He was unwilling to restore the judiciary as divisions in the coalition grew and popular sentiment shifted towards Sharif. The coalition criticised the government for barring Sharif from competing in the June by-elections. Because of the impasses over Musharraf and the judiciary, the coalition could not address rising food shortages and spiraling inflation, which was the highest in 30 years.

In August 2008, Zardari relented, and the coalition agreed to proceed full speed towards Musharraf’s impeachment by drafting a charge-sheet against him. The coalition charged him with high treason for the 1999 coup and the imposition of martial law. He warned Musharraf against dismissing Parliament, and the coalition selected Gillani instead of Musharraf to represent Pakistan at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. On 18 August, Musharraf resigned in order to avoid impeachment. Although Zardari favoured granting Musharraf immunity from prosecution, the coalition could not agree on a decision. The coalition also could not reach a united stance on the future of the judiciary.

Presidential elections were held within three weeks after the departure of Musharraf. Zardari vowed to pursue an unpopular campaign against tribal militancy in Pakistan and had the support of the United States. He claimed he had a London business school degree to satisfy a prerequisite for the presidency, but his party did not produce a certificate. He was endorsed by the PPP and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) for the presidency. The PML-N nominated former justice Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui, while the PML-Q put forth Mushahid Hussain Sayed. Zardari won a majority in the Electoral College with 481 of 702 votes. He was elected President on 6 September 2008.

At the inauguration on 9 September 2008, Afghan President Hamid Karzai was a guest of honour, which was a signal for much closer cooperation between the two nations in addressing the tribal insurgency along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. After the election, Zardari promised to approve the constitutional provision that removed the President’s power to dismiss Parliament, but public scepticism remained on whether he would actually carry out his promise. His economic competence was questioned after allegations that he had raised grain procurement prices through inflationary subsidies and scrapped the capital gains tax. His first parliamentary speech was overshadowed by 20 September Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing. A few days later, he went to the United Nations Headquarters in New York City on his first overseas trip as President.

In mid-November 2008, Zardari’s government officially sent a letter of intent to the IMF regarding a bailout to help increase its foreign exchange reserves. In a $11.3 billion multi-year loan package, Pakistan received a $7.4 billion loan for 2008–10. The IMF stipulated stringent reform conditions, which included rebuilding the tax structure and privatising state enterprises. The World Bank and Asian Development Bank withheld a combined $3 billion aid in the 2010–11 fiscal year and the IMF withheld since May 2010 the last segment of its aid package.

In early October 2008, he received fierce domestic criticism for repeatedly calling Kashmiri nationalists (see Kashmir conflict) in India “terrorists”. In mid-November 2008, he suggested Pakistan was ready for a no-first-use nuclear policy and called for closer economic ties.

In June 2009, Zardari met Singh for the first time since the Mumbai attacks at a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

In February 2009, FATA’s provincial government officially declared Islamic law in Swat to achieve a ceasefire with the northwestern Pashtun tribes. Because the United States and Britain opposed the measure, Zardari did not sign the Swat ceasefire until mid-April, when domestic pressure from Parliament mounted. By the end of April, the agreement collapsed as the Pakistani military pursued an unpopular offensive in the neighbouring Dir district.

In February 2009, Zardari and the Musharraf-appointed Supreme Court attempted to disqualify Nawaz Sharif from running in any elections and tried to force his brother Shahbaz Sharif to resign as Chief Minister of Punjab province. Zardari dismissed the Punjab provincial government and only partially reinstated the judiciary by restoring 56 other judges deposed by Musharraf—but not their former leader, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. After Nawaz Sharif defied house arrest and rallied with thousands of his supporters, the Sharif brothers vowed to join forces with the Lawyers’ Movement in the “Long March”. Zardari’s government gave in to popular pressure and Prime Minister Gilani in an early morning speech on 16 March 2009 promised to reinstate Chaudhry by 21 March. Ten judges were reinstated on 16 March, and Chaudry assumed his position on 22 March. Zardari’s month-long direct control of the Punjab ended on 30 March.

In April 2009, President Asif Ali Zardari signed the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation into law. The regulation formally established Sharia law in the Malakand division.

In December 2009, the Supreme Court ruled that the National Reconciliation Ordinance amnesty was unconstitutional, which cleared the way for the revival of corruption cases against Zardari. Although Zardari had immunity from prosecution because he was President, the end of NRO and his earlier corruption cases challenged the legality of his presidency. Calls for his resignation escalated. Zardari, who rarely left the Aiwan-e-Sadr presidential palace, responded with a nationwide spurt of speeches in January 2011. In January 2010, the Supreme Court ordered Pakistan’s government to reopen Zardari’s corruption charges in Switzerland. However, Zardari prevented the MQM-leaning Attorney General, Anwar Mansoor, from filing charges, so Mansoor resigned in protest in early April. That same month, Zardari won a key victory against the judiciary over his corruption trials when Geneva Attorney General Daniel Zappelli stated that Zardari can not be prosecuted under international laws because of his presidential immunity. Zardari was supported by Prime Minister Gilani, who defied the Supreme Court order.

In September 2010, Zardari and Karzai met in Islamabad and both advocated fighting insurgents rather than trying to end the war with diplomacy. Zardari went to the United States in January 2011 to attend Special Envoy Holbrooke’s funeral. Following Osama bin Laden’s death in a compound in Abbottabad in May 2011, Obama called Zardari and collaborated on the events.

In February 2010, Zardari sparked a standoff by attempting to appoint a Supreme Court candidate without the court’s approval, but the confrontation ended after he backed down and nominated a candidate acceptable by the court.

In April 2010, after months of political pressure, the government passed the 18th Amendment, which reduced the President to a ceremonial figurehead by stripping the office of the power to dissolve Parliament, to dismiss the Prime Minister, and to appoint military chiefs. The amendment also lifted the restriction of two terms as Prime Minister, which enabled Zardari’s foremost political rival, Nawaz Sharif, to seek a third term. The amendment was passed with virtually unanimous support in Parliament and Zardari himself espoused the legislation because of political pressure. After the 18th Amendment, Zardari’s main power derived from his position as leader of the PPP, which controls the largest bloc in Parliament.

The 2010 Pakistan floods began in late July with rain in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and soon submerged a fifth of Pakistan and afflicted 20 million people, resulting in one of the nation’s largest natural catastrophes. Simultaneously, British Prime Minister David Cameron sparked a serious diplomatic row with Pakistan during his visit to India by stating that elements within Pakistan were promoting the “export of terror” a week before a planned visit by Zardari to Britain. Zardari ignored domestic pressure and began his European trip in Paris on 1 August, meeting French President Sarkozy. In France, he drew a rebuke from the U.S. after stating that NATO had “lost the battle for hearts and minds” in the Afghan war. As the flood’s devastation became increasingly evident, he was widely criticised for flying in a helicopter to his Normandy chateau and dining at Cameron’s Chequers countryside home. Protests within Britain, mainly among the British Pakistani community, grew against his visit. The widely expected maiden speech by his son Bilawal was cancelled, as Zardari faced criticism for using the trip to advance Bilawal’s political aspirations.

In January 2011, the MQM withdrew from the government. Zardari’s ruling coalition averted a government collapse by accepting the opposition’s economic proposals, which restored gas subsidies and abandoned many of the IMF’s suggested reforms.

In an effort to curb government expenditures, Zardari swore in an “austerity cabinet” in February 2011 which reduced the cabinet from 60 ministers to 22.

In March 2011, Zardari delivered his annual parliamentary address to a half-empty chamber because of an opposition walkout.

In January 2011, Pakistani news media, including the nation’s largest Urdu newspaper (from the Jang Group), reported that Zardari had married Tanveer Zamani. Zardari’s spokesperson, Farhatullah Babar, accused Zamani for deliberately aiding to the hoax. In 2015, Zardari–Zamani marriage was again in the news due recent allegations in the interviews by Tanvir Zamani. Allegedly, they have a son named, Sajawal Bhutto.

On 8 April 2012, President Zardari, along with his son Bilawal Zardari Bhutto, visited Dargah Sharif in Ajmer, India on a private visit. He also met with the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

In November 2012, the Pakistan government in response to the court orders, finally wrote to the Swiss authorities seeking to reopen the corruption cases against Zardari. The Swiss government responded by saying that the corruption cases being time-barred cannot be reopened.

Pakistan and China on 22 May 2013 inked several Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) that mainly included the long-term Economic Corridor plan, maritime cooperation and satellite navigation. President Asif Ali Zardari and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang witnessed the signing ceremony as the representatives of the two countries inked the documents at a ceremony held at the Aiwan-e-Sadr. The visit of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang marked the signing of important documents aimed at long-term cooperation between the two countries in multiple areas.

Zardari completed his five-year term on 8 September 2013, becoming the first democratically elected President in the 66-year-long history of Pakistan to complete his tenure. He received a guard of honour while leaving the Aiwan-e-Sadr. He was succeeded by Mamnoon Hussain as President.

He became active in the PPP, which he voted to revamp, after his presidency. He succeeded Ameen Faheem as chairman of PPPP in 2015. In December 2016, he announced that both he and his son Bilawal, would contest the 2018 general election.

In July 2017, During the investigation of Panama Papers case, Zardari demanded Nawaz Sharif’s resignation. In August 2017, Pakistan’s anti-corruption acquitted him from his last pending case in which he was accused along with his late wife, Benazir Bhutto, of laundering illegal kickbacks and maintaining assets beyond known sources of income. The case had dogged him for 19 years. His rival Imran Khan believed that Zardari’s acquittal was the result of a deal between PML-N and PPP. However he denied any kind of collaboration. The National Accountability Bureau also challenged the acquittal. On 2 September, after his wife’s murder case verdict which declared Pervez Musharraf as fugitive and convicted two senior police officer, he said that he was not satisfied with the verdict and that he will appeal the judgment as it had acquitted five Pakistani Taliban suspects. In 2019, he was arrested in Islamabad over a money laundering case. An anti-graft court issued an indictment of Zardari on corruption charges on August 10, 2020. NAB Court Indicts Asif Ali Zardari And Faryal Talpur In Corruption References on 29 September 2020