Hakim Ali Zardari was a Pakistani politician who served as a member of National Assembly of Pakistan from 1972 to 1977 and again from 1988 to 1990 and then again from 1993 to 1996. He had been involved in Pakistani politics since the 1960s and had served as a federal minister twice.
Early life
He was born in 1930 in the village of Fatohal Zardari to Mohammad Hassan Zardari. His father's family were from the Zardari tribe of Baluchistan and was recruited by the British to be zamindars in Sindh. His mother was originally from Iraq. He received his initial education from mosque school and completed his matriculation from DC High School in Nawabshah.
Political career
Zardari started his political career in 1965 when he was elected member of the Nawabshah District Council and later was elected as the Mayor of District Nawabshah. He supported Fatima Jinnah in the 1965 presidential elections against Ayub Khan. In 1970, he joined the Pakistan Peoples Party as a founding member. He also got elected head of the Zardari tribe in 1970. He was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan in 1970, 1988, and 1993. He was imprisoned during the tenures of Nawaz Sharif and Pervaiz Musharraf and was implicated with his son for the murder of Federal Secretary Alam Baloch.
Business career and wealth
He built cinema houses in Hyderabad and Karachi and worked as a film distributor. He also produced a Sindhi film, Soorat. He had a house in Normandy, France which he was accused of buying for 724 million dollars. The National Accountability Bureau filed a reference against him for having assets beyond source of income and was sentenced for five years of rigorous imprisonment, a fine of 18.5 million rupees and disqualified him from holding any elected office for 10 years. On health ground his house was declared as sub-jail. On 24 January 2007, Sindh High Court overturned his conviction made by the accountability bureau. He was also convicted in similar case in Lahore for making shady transactions with various organisations for establishing a tourist village at Rawalpindi National Park through Zardari Group. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail and asked to pay a fine of 20 million rupees but this was also overturned by Lahore High Court in 2002.
