Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, the youngest daughter of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and slain premier Benazir Bhutto, has taken a plunge into the country’s tumultuous politics. She has filed her candidacy for the bye-poll at the National Assembly seat in Sindh Province vacated by her father.
Aseefa, 31, has been active in politics for some time, but was kept away from parliamentary politics by her father Zardari, who is also the co-chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), until an opportune time.
Following her father’s inauguration as the 14th president of Pakistan, Aseefa is poised to become the First Lady, a position traditionally held by the spouse of the president.
She submitted her nomination papers on Sunday in the bye-election for the NA-207 constituency of Shaheed Benzirabad district in the Sindh province. Father Asif Ali Zardari had won the seat but vacated it after becoming president.
Mother Benazir Bhutto was killed in a bombing and suicide attack in 2007 in Rawalpindi, when Aseefa was a teenager. Due to her adolescence, she had suffered more emotionally as compared to her two elder siblings, Bakhtawar and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
Bilawal, a former foreign minister of Pakistan, is the chairperson of the PPP. Aseefa was designated First Lady by her widower father.
Although her 35-year-old brother Bilawal has already taken over the party, Aseefa is considered a natural heir to her mother.
Benazir Bhutto took over the party after her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged in 1979 due to his alleged involvement in a murder case.
The bye-elections will be held on April 21, and Aseefa is almost sure to win. By becoming part of the parliament of Pakistan, she would strengthen her party and also family politics.