Sanam Bhutto

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Sanam Bhutto (born 1957) is the younger sister of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. She is the only surviving child of the late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Begum Nusrat Bhutto. She has been suggested as a potential leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party to replace her assassinated sister Benazir.^[1] However, media sources indicate that Sanam Bhutto is not interested in doing so.^[2]

Sanam was educated at Harvard University. She was married to Nasir Hussain, the son of a 1940s prime minister of Junagarh.^[3] The couple attended the state dinner at the White House for Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto hosted by US President George Bush on June 6, 1989. Nasir Hussain (and his driver Niaz Hussain) were arrested in 1992, and were prosecuted for the murder of Ali Ahmed Soomro, an adviser to the late chief minister Jam Sadiq Ali [NYT 17 October 1995; Dawn, 20 Jun 2004]. Although the couple is said to be estranged, according to the 30 July 2003 Sentencing Order passed by the Swiss investigating magistrate on the SGS/Cotecna cases against Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari of alleged corruption, Nasir Hussain's company, Nassam Overseas Inc., was one of the three offshore companies that were to receive "commissions" on the award of a pre-shipment inspection contract by SGS/Cotecna.^[4] According to some estimates between September 1994, when SGS/Cotecna were awarded the contract, and September 1997 Nasir Husain's Nassam Overseas Inc. had received $3.81 million in commissions.^[5]

Sanam lives in London with her two children,^[1] Shaharyar Hussain and Azadeh.^[6] As the last surviving offspring of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Sanam Bhutto can be expected to play a much larger role in Pakistan in the coming years.