THE BHUTTOS AND THE COLONIALISTS

Among the many documents hidden away in the Bhutto family library in 70 Clifton, Karachi, is a family tree commissioned over fifty years ago by the dynasty’s most famous son, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.¹ It traces twelve generations of Bhuttos, but the dynastic story really goes back twelve centuries to a time when the Bhuttos’ ancestors were Rajputs, a warrior caste that became the most important Hindu ally of successive Moghul emperors, providing them with military forces. The Rajputs were composed of tight-knit, disputatious clans, and it is from Rajput culture that the Bhuttos inherited some enduring traits, such as a