KARACHI: Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari, the youngest daughter of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Asif Ali Zardari, on Tuesday visited the Karachi zoological gardens that was closed for other visitors without any prior notice.

It was a second outing within a week by Ms Bhutto-Zardari as a few days ago she paid a visit to SOS Children’s Village, home of abandoned, destitute and orphaned children.

While a statement issued by Bilawal House said that during the visit Ms Bhutto-Zardari was “hailed by the visiting children and their families in zoo and [she] intermingled with them,” the situation was quite different at the zoo, which had been closed before her arrival.

A police official said: “The garden was closed before the arrival of Ms Bhutto-Zardari. Even the media was not allowed to cover or record her visit. She remained here for over an hour and during that time no one was allowed to enter the zoo.”

The Bilawal House statement added that Ms Bhutto-Zardari visited the city zoo to personally observe the conditions of animals following adverse reports in the media about the health of certain caged species.

“She also inquired from the management of the zoo after health conditions of the animals and stressed that special care be given to feeding and health of the animals.

“The gates of Zoological Gardens remained open during the visit of Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari and several children and families [approached her] to [have] group photos with her,” said the statement.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2015

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