A Look at the Bhutto Family Dynasty

Sunday, Dec. 30, 2007 | 10:22 a.m.

Key figures in Pakistan's Bhutto dynasty:

- Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto: late grandfather of Benazir Bhutto. Senior figure in the Pakistan Muslim League, the party that helped split Pakistan from India and lead it to independence in 1947.

- Zulfikar Ali Bhutto: Bhutto's father. Became prime minister in 1971 after founding the populist Pakistan Peoples Party with the motto: "Food, shelter and clothing for all." Executed in 1979 by the government of then-military ruler Gen. Mohammed Zia-ul Haq on charges of arranging the murder of the father of a political opponent.

- Nusrat Bhutto: Bhutto's mother. Lawmaker who took control of her husband's party after his death. Soon eclipsed by her ambitious daughter and has not been seen in public in recent years because of illness.

- Benazir Bhutto: Took over the leadership of her father's party; in 1988 elected the Islamic world's first women prime minister but was fired 20 months later on corruption accusations by the country's military-backed president. Elected again in 1993, only to be removed three years later. Slain Thursday by a suicide attacker as she campaigned to become premier a third time.

- Murtaza Bhutto: Older of Benazir Bhutto's two brothers; died in shootout with police just outside his Karachi residence while his sister was prime minister.

- Shahnawaz Bhutto: Younger brother; organized opposition from France but died under mysterious circumstances in his apartment on the Riviera in 1980.

- Ghinwa Bhutto: Murtaza's wife. Has accused Bhutto and her husband of planning Murtaza's killing. Founded a breakaway faction of the Peoples Party that garners few votes.

- Fatima Bhutto: Ghinwa's 25-year-old daughter. Has criticized Benazir Bhutto in her columns for the English-language daily The News. Educated, photogenic and headstrong, she has been touted as a possible successor at the helm of the PPP.

- Asif Ali Zardari: Benazir Bhutto's widower and a former Cabinet minister who spent eight years in prison on corruption accusations. On orders in Bhutto's will, he replaced her as head of the PPP following her death.

- Bilawal Zardari: Benazir Bhutto's 19-year-old son and her oldest of three children. A student at Oxford University, he has spent much of his life abroad. Appointed official chairman of the PPP after his mother's death.