Who Is Aseefa Bhutto? Daughter of Slain Pak PM Benazir, Country’s Newly Recognised First Lady – News18

Pakistan President Asif Zardari last week formally recognised his 31-year-old daughter Aseefa Bhutto as the First Lady of the country. The status of the First Lady goes to the wife of the President of the country in general.

However, Zardari’s wife and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in 2007. After that, he did not remarry and the position of the first lady also remained vacant during his first tenure as the country’s president from 2008 to 2013. Zardari, 68, was sworn in as the country’s 14th president on Sunday.

During his oath-taking ceremony, Zardari was accompanied by his youngest daughter, Aseefa. “From accompanying president Asif Zardari to all his court hearings to fighting for his release from jail now by his side as First Lady of Pakistan and added Aseefa’s name at the end,” Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, the eldest daughter, tagged Aseefa in a tweet.

What’s The Story of Aseefa Bhutto?

This move to elevate Aseefa to the position of First Lady marks a significant chapter in the nation’s political history. The youngest First Lady, Aseefa Bhutto has been a part of the politics of Pakistan since she was an infant. Educated from Edinburgh and Oxford Brooks University, the first Pakistani girl to receive polio drops in the country.

After the official declaration, Aseefa was given the protocol and privileges befitting the First Lady. In addition to their ceremonial roles, first ladies in Pakistan have historically initiated social and health-related projects. However, figures like Aseefa’s grandmother Nusrat Bhutto, Shafiq Zia (wife of military dictator Ziaul Haq), and Nahid Mirza (spouse of Iskandar Mirza) also maintained political engagement, the Dawn newspaper reported.

Aseefa during Zardari’s first term was a teenager and currently, she is 31 years old. Aseefa had actively been involved in the PPP’s electoral campaign in the run-up to the February 8 polls and was seen leading various rallies in a bid to seek support for her brother Bilawal Bhutto Zardari the party’s then-candidate for the prime minister’s post. Aseefa made her political debut at a PPP rally in Multan on November 30, 2020.

There are many instances from foreign countries when presidents, who were widowers, had asked their daughters, sisters and even nieces to become their first lady. Former United States president Andrew Jackson, who was a widower, had asked his niece Emily Donelson to serve as the country’s first lady. Moreover, two other US presidents Chester Arthur and Grover Cleveland asked their sisters to serve as first lady.

(With agency inputs)