Aseefa Bhutto, daughter of newly elected President Asif Ali Zardari, will become the country's first lady, Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Information Secretary Faisal Karim Kundi confirmed on Monday.
“Aseefa Bhutto will be declared First Lady and an official announcement will be made in this regard,” Kundi said. Geographic news.
He said the president also held consultations with party leaders on recognizing the Bhutto family scion as first lady.
Zardari was sworn in as the country's 14th head of state on Sunday, a day after sweeping the presidential election with 411 electoral votes.
After the swearing-in ceremony, reports began circulating in the media that President Zardari was planning to recognize his daughter Aseefa as first lady.
Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, the eldest daughter, tagged Aseefa in an X post on Sunday in which she could be seen accompanying her father to the swearing-in ceremony.
The post on
A first lady is the wife of the president, however, in this case, President Zardari is a widower after his wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was martyred in 2007.
Since then, the president has not remarried and the position of first lady also remained vacant during his first term as the country's president, from 2008 to 2013.
However, it was different back then as Aseefa was a teenager during her father's first term as head of state and is currently 31 years old.
Aseefa had been active in the party's election campaign in the run-up to the February 8 elections and was seen leading several rallies in a bid to seek support for her brother Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the party's then candidate for the post of Prime Minister. .
Aseefa made her political debut at a Pakistan People's Party (PPP) rally in Multan on November 30, 2020.
However, this is not the first time that a Pakistani president has declared someone else as first lady instead of his wife.
Former military ruler Field Marshal Ayub Khan declared his daughter Naseem Aurangzeb first lady after becoming president in 1958.
She was the daughter-in-law of Wali Swat Mian Gul Jahanzeb and the wife of his son Mian Gul Aurangzeb. Mian Gul Aurangzeb was the governor of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Mian Gul Aurangzeb's younger brother Mian Gul Amirzeb was also the son-in-law of Field Marshal Ayub Khan. Jamila, the youngest daughter of Ayub Khan, was Amirzeb's wife. Naseem and Jameela were maternal aunts of PTI general secretary Omar Ayub Khan. Islamabad High Court Judge Mian Gul Hasan is the grandson of Zeib Ayub Khan and cousin of Umar Ayub.
Furthermore, in the past, Madar-e-Millat Fatima Jinnah also occasionally accompanied her brother Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah on various occasions including official events. He was also a widower.
There are many cases in foreign countries where presidents, who were widowed, 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 be the country's first lady. Additionally, two other American presidents, Chester Arthur and Grover Cleveland, asked their sisters to serve as first ladies.
