Fatima Bhutto Biography and latest books by Fatima Bhutto

Fatima Bhutto (Fatima Murtaza Bhutto) born on 29 May 1982, is a Pakistani poet, writer and journalist. She is granddaughter of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the niece of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and daughter of Murtaza Bhutto.

Fatima Bhutto was born to a Pakistani Sindhi father and an Afghan Pashtun mother, in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Her father, Murtaza Bhutto, the son of former Pakistani President and Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was in exile during the military regime of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. He was killed by the police in 1996 in Karachi during the premiership of his sister, Benazir Bhutto.

Her mother, Fauzia Fasihudin Bhutto, is the daughter of Afghanistan\'s former Foreign Affairs official.
When Fatima was three years old, her parents divorced. Her father took custody and Fatima lived with him, moving from country to country, and constantly menaced by the pursuing agents of Pakistan’s security forces.
Murtaza Bhutto met Ghinwa Bhutto, a Lebanese ballet teacher in 1989 during his exiled stay in Syria and they married. Fatima considers Ghinwa to be her real mother and political mentor. She currently resides with her stepmother Ghinwa Bhutto, and her half-brother Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Jr., at the famous residence 70 Clifton Road in Old Clifton, Karachi.

(Years later, her mother unsuccessfully attempted to gain parental custody of Fatima.)


Bhutto completed her secondary education at the Karachi American School. She then went on to complete her B.A. degree in Middle Eastern studies from Barnard College, Columbia University in Manhattan, USA. She received a master\'s degree in South Asian Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.


A believer of democracy, Fatima Bhutto refers to remain active through her writing, rather than through elected office. She actively supports her mother\'s chairpersonship of her father\'s wing of the Pakistan Peoples Party. She was saddened by the death of her estranged aunt, Benazir Bhutto and her entrance into politics has been speculated ever since.



Her first published book was a collection of poems, titled “Whispers of the Desert”.
Her second book “8.50 a.m. 8 October 2005” marks the moment of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and records accounts of those affected.
She has also penned a memoir in 2010, “Songs of Blood and Sword”

She currently writes columns for The Daily Beast, New Statesman and other publications.