High profile romance in Pakistan exposed

by Preeta Memon
September 23, 2012

 

 

One of the Western intelligence agencies have found romantic relations between youngest foreign minister of Pakistan, Hina Rabbani Khar and Bilawal Bhutto, the son of President Asif Ali Zardari and slain Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

 

The report even indicated a 'cold feud' between the father and the son, following Bilawal's decision of marrying Hina Rabbani Khar, as she is poised to end her marital relations with millionaire businessman Firoze Gulzar, from whom she has two daughters named Annaya and Dina. Born on November 19, 1977, Hina Rabbani Khar hails from an influential feudal and landowner family and is the daughter of politician and landowner Nur Rabbani Khar and the niece of Ghulam Mustafa Khar, a former Governor of Punjab. The Khar family has roots in the village of Khar Gharbi located in Kot Adu – a tehsil (subdivision) in Muzaffargarh District in Punjab; and has many land holdings. The Khar family owns an estate that includes fisheries, mango orchards, and sugarcane fields as well as a local steel mill.

 

After graduating from local high school, Khar attended the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in 1995, and earned B.Sc. in Economics with cum laude in 1999. The same year, she went to United States to resume her higher studies and attended the post-graduate school of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and subsequently earned a Master's degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management in 2002.

 

Hina Rabbani Khar was brought into national prominence and national political arena by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in 2004, who publicly appointed her into the Finance ministry. In previous 2002 general elections, she successfully contested and secured the parliamentary constituency of her father, after most members of the family were disqualified. With financial support of her father, she campaigned on a newly founded PML (Q Group) platform against Pakistan Muslim League. After the elections, Khar was elected as a Member of Parliament, representing the NA-177, Muzaffargarh-II constituency in Punjab, a position her father had held previously, but a new law requiring all candidates to hold a university degree meant he could not run that year. The Guardian wrote, "In deference to local sensibilities about the place of women, her landlord father Noor addressed rallies and glad-handed voters; Hina stayed largely at home, with not even her photo appearing on the posters." In 2005, she was elevated as the deputy minister of economic affairs and served under Shaukat Aziz. As deputy minister, she dealt extensively with the donor community during the 2005 earthquake that hit Northern Pakistan.

 

In 2007, she made an unsuccessful attempt to renew her alliance with PML-Q, but the party denied her a ticket platform to campaign for re-election in 2008, she was later invited by the senior members of the Pakistan Peoples Party and successfully campaign for her constituency for a second time. The PPP secured plurality of the votes and formed a left-wing alliance with the Awami National Party, MQM and PML-Q. They nominated and elected Yousaf Raza Gillani as Prime Minister.

 

It is learnt from the intelligence source that, President Asif Ali Zardari is vehemently opposing his son's willingness of knotting marital relations with a woman with two children, saying it would not only jeopardize Bilawal's political career but would also invite political doom for the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP). Being aggrieved by his son's ego and determination in making family with Hina Rabbani Khar, Asif Ali Zardari played key-role behind using country's intelligence agencies in spreading the scandal about the evasion of electricity bills worth 70 million Rupees by Galaxy Textile Mills, a company owned by Khar's husband Firoze Gulzar and father-in-law. The media reports also alleged that she and her husband are also among many other beneficiaries of NRO - an ordinance drafted to save corruption money and provide immunity to the corrupt.

At this stage, sensing his father's aggressive attitude towards Hina Rabbani Khar, Bilawal expressed anger and even threatened of resigning from the post of Presidency of Pakistan People's Party. He even told Asif Ali Zardari that he would settle in Switzerland with Hina Rabbani Khar and her daughters, though later he even told his father that, Hina might leave her daughters with her husband after the divorce. It may be mentioned here that, Bilawal Bhutto's mother Benazir Bhutto left a hidden wealth worth a few billion dollars in Switzerland and Bilawal is the legal nominee of all those properties.

 

The secret affairs between Bilawal Bhutto and Hina Rabbani Khar came to the knowledge of Asif Ali Zardari, when the duo was caught in compromised situation inside the official residence of the President, where his son Bilawal Bhutto also resides. Later, President Zardari collected mobile call records between Bilawal and Hina and found evidences of relations between the two. The relations became much exposed to Asif Ali Zardari, when Hina Rabbani Khar sent Bilawal a greeting card on his birthday on September 21, 2011 with hand-written message stating – "The foundation of our relations is eternal and soon we shall be just ourselves."

 

It may be mentioned here that, Bilawal Bhutto is 11 years younger than Hina Rabbani Khar. Earliest this year, Bilawal Bhutto was caught in sex scandal with some unknown females.