Sanam Bhutto (born 1957) Sindhi: صنم ڀٽو in Karachi city is the younger sister of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. She is the only surviving child of the late former Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Begum Nusrat Bhutto and the only one whom Nusrat did not outlive. 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 a career in politics.[2]
Sanam was educated at the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Karachi. She later attended Harvard University near Boston like her sister Benazir Bhutto. She was married to Nasir Hussain, the son of a 1940s Diwan of the former princely state of Junagarh like her grandfather Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto. However, the couple is now divorced.
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.[3] 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.[4]
Sanam lives in London with her two children,[1] Shahmir Hussain and Azadeh.[5] As the last surviving offspring of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Sanam Bhutto has refrained from taking part in Pakistani politics, even though there had been demands within the Pakistan Peoples Party for her to head the party after Benazir Bhutto's assassination.