Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari, Daughter Of Benazir Bhutto, Takes Oath As Member Of Pakistan Parliament

Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari, daughter of former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto, took her oath as the member of the Pakistan National Assembly on Monday. She was elected unopposed as an MNA from NA-207 Shaheed Benazirabad and succeeded her father President Asif Ali Zardari who vacated the seat last month.

She was accompanied by her brother and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to the Pakistan Parliament. During her oath-taking ceremony, MNAs of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) raised slogans.

Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari, the 31-year-old politician, was born in London and has a bachelor’s degree in politics and sociology from Oxford Brookes University and master’s degree in global health and development from University College London.

She was also Pakistan’s ambassador for the national polio eradication campaign. It should be noted that she was administered polio drops by her mother, Benazir Bhutto in 1994 when her mother launched a nationwide immunisation drive to eradicate polio and became the first Pakistani child to be administered polio vaccine as part of the drive.

Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in 2007 by al-Qaeda.

Imran Khan’s PTI leaders were protesting against Aseefa because they alleged that their candidate for NA 207, Ghulam Mustafa Rind was arrested by the Sakrand police and because of this he could not compete against Aseefa which led to her getting elected unopposed.

Aseefa’s sister, Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari, celebrated her sister’s ascent to the new role and said it was a “surreal and proud moment for our family”.

Her party, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), said the occasion was a ‘historic moment’.

PPP Central Information Secretary Faisal Karim Kundi also called Aseefa’s swearing in a “historic moment for Pakistan’s parliamentary democracy”.

Aseefa played an important role for the PPP in the run-up to the general elections by running an aggressive election campaign for her brother Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other party candidates in Sanghar, Shaheed Benazirabad and Naushahro Feroze districts.

(with inputs from the Dawn)