Shahnawaz Bhutto

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Shahnawaz Bhutto

This article is about the son of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto/brother of Benazir Bhutto. For his grandfather the Sindhi politician and landlord, see Shah Nawaz Bhutto.

Shahnawaz Bhutto (1958 - 1985) was the son of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (President/Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1971 to 1977) and Begum Nusrat Bhutto. Shahnawaz Bhutto was the youngest of Bhutto’s four children. Shahnawaz was schooled in Pakistan and later travelled abroad to complete his higher education.

Shahnawaz was in Switzerland when Zia ul Haq's military regime executed his father in 1979. Prior to the execution, Shahnawaz and his elder brother Murtaza Bhutto embarked on an international campaign to save their father's life, but it was to no avail. The two brothers continued to resist the military abrogation of the 1973 constitution in exile.

On July 18, 1985, the 27 year old Shahnawaz was found dead in his French Riviera apartment in Nice. He died under mysterious circumstances, and the Bhutto family firmly believe he was poisoned. It has been alleged, however, that he could have died of a drug overdose.^{[citation needed]}. No one was brought to trial for murder, but Shahnawaz's wife Rehana was considered a suspect by the French authorities and remained in their custody for some time. She was found not guilty and later allowed to travel, and went to the U.S.. Sassi is their daughter.

Shahnawaz is believed to have helped organize a group dedicated to overthrowing the regime of President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, through links to Al-Zulfiqar, increasingly active in Pakistan at that time.

The funeral of Shahnawaz turned into a defiant show of opposition to Zia's military rule. It was held in a Larkana sports stadium, attended by an estimated 25,000 people.