Islamabad: Once dubbed as Mr 10 per cent and a liability for his party, Asif Ali Zardari, who has spent more years behind the bars than in politics, today defied his critics by rising to occupy the post of Pakistans President despite his tainted past.

A little-known businessman till he married Benazir Bhutto, the daughter of Pakistans first political family, on December 18,1987,Zardari remained in the shadows of his charismatic wife, the two-time Premier who was at the helm of affairs in the country in the 1990s.

The 53-year-old Pakistan People Party co-Chairmans elevation to the highest constitutional post has turned the tables for the wily politician who foxed his way to the top after being incarcerated for over a decade on charges ranging from corruption to murder.

As he spent years in and out of ghoul, Zardari avoided the limelight till he came to the political frontline after the assassination of Bhutto on December 27 last year. He became the co-chairman of the PPP along with his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari after his wifes murder.

Zardari, who joined forces with rival PML-N before Nawaz Sharifs party pulled out of the ruling coalition last month, was instrumental in ending the nine-year reign of former President Pervez Musharraf after unseating the pro-Musharraf PML-Q in the February general elections.

After initial reluctance, he was set to impeach Musharraf in alliance with Sharif and had prepared a charge-sheet when the former military ruler resigned from the top post on August 18,2008.

Following Sharifs pullout from the coalition government on August 25,Zardari jumped into the fray and filed his nomination for the Presidential elections.

The election of Zardari to the countrys top post proved to be a dramatic turning point in the political career of the PPP leader whose public image was so bad that his party kept him out of the public eye as much as possible even during the campaigning for February polls.

He was seen as a political liability for the PPP and spent 11 years in jail on charges of corruption for which he was labelled "Mr 10 per cent" amid allegations that he pocketed commissions on government contracts

Both Zardari and Bhutto denied the corruption allegations levelled against them but were able to return to Pakistan from self-exile last year only after Musharraf issued a controversial law that dropped all graft charges against them

Zardari, the son of Pakistani politician Hakim Ali Zardari, was born on July 26,1955 in Nawabshah, an important city of Sindh province, and grew up in Karachi. He was educated at St Patricks School, ironically also the alma mater of Musharraf.

His father was well-to-do and the young Zardaris main claim to fame was that he had a private disco at home, helping him gain the reputation as a "playboy".

When he married Bhutto, the icon of the anti-establishment cause in Pakistan, he became "the designated fall guy". Close friends said "Zardari knew this and accepted it. He walked into the marriage knowing it would always be about her, and never about him."

They had three children -- son Bilawal and daughters Baktawar and Asifa.

He was made a minister after his wifes PPP took power in 1993. In 1996,he was arrested under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance. He found himself charged with the murder of Mir Murtaza Bhutto, his wifes brother.

Source : DNA