Despite Zardari’s unsavoury reputation, she made him minister of environment and investment when she became prime minister for the second time in 1993. But he was back in jail after she was ousted again in 1996. Zardari spent a total of 11 years in prison, and some of the charges against him were pretty sensational even for a South Asian politician, from strapping a bomb to a British-Pakistani businessman’s leg in a bid to extort money to masterminding his brother-in-law’s assassination. He was also alleged to have amassed $1.5 billion along with Benazir, though she seemed genuinely unaware of some of his more extravagant investments. Both the famed diamond necklace in Switzerland and the Rockwood mansion outside London, for instance, were linked to Zardari’s girlfriends.

None of the cases were ever upheld in court and he was finally released and allowed to leave the country in December 2004. Prison also ruined his health — he suffers from a spinal injury, a heart ailment and diabetes. He was tortured to make him turn against his wife, and an attempt was even made, confirmed by a human rights group, to slice his tongue off. Still he remained politically loyal to Benazir.

And the Bhutto-Zardari family, including son Bilawal and daughters Bakhtawar and Asifa, remained close-knit, despite rumours that Zardari beat his wife. After her death, a friend insisted the rumour was true, but added: “Benazir adored him. And the children, especially the girls, are still close to their father.”

... contd.