KARACHI: Former president of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari said on Monday that beside Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, his eldest son, Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, his younger daughter would also enter into the election arena in the next general elections.

Addressing a convention of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), Zardari said that he would also contest the elections.

Bilawal had been made the chairman of PPP after death of Benazir Bhutto in 2007 but only being 18 years old at that time Zardari himself led the party. Since than Bilawal had been politically groomed by the party veterans but he remained out of the parliament.

Aseefa, the youngest of the three children of Asif Zardari and Benazir Bhutto, has also shown interest in Pakistani politics and took part in many social and political debates and issues over the time.

She criticised some political decisions of the party leadership, demonstrating her upright approach towards the national issues.

Zardari, who is currently on a nationwide tour as part of PPP’s preparations for the next general elections, told the convention that his party raised the development budget for Fata from Rs3 billion to Rs19 billion.

Zardari said during the last PPP government five legislators from the tribal areas had been included in the federal cabinet.

He advised the local leadership of the PPP to strengthen the party in Fata. He said party tickets for next general elections would be issued after consultation with the local leadership as he did not want to impose any candidate on them.

Highlighting the services of his party for the tribal areas, Zardari said that his government issued Benazir Income Support Scheme cards so the poor could get a regular income of Rs5,000.

Outlining the future plans for the development of Fata, Zardari said that his party wanted to set up a separate high court and a Supreme Court registry so that the people could get justice in their own area instead of travelling to Islamabad or Peshawar.

He said that his party, if returned to power, would also fulfil its commitment to merge the Fata into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Criticising his political opponents, Zardari said that time for “shows of Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif" was over and the future belonged to PPP.