Benazir Bhutto's Son Fears Pakistan May Disintegrate

by Rob Walker | January 8, 2008 at 03:56 pm | 372 views | add comment

It would be hard enough to get the privacy to grieve with a mother as famous as his, but when half the country is looking at you to lead it must take an enormous toll on Bhutto.

Benazir Bhutto’s 19-year-old son made his political debut in a London hotel today and was forced to defend the decision to hand him the leadership of his mother's Pakistan's People's Party "like some piece of family furniture".

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari chose his mother's favourite boutique hotel in Knightsbridge for his first press appearance since her assassination in Rawalpindi 12 days ago.

He began by issuing an appeal to the media to respect his privacy while he completes his education at Oxford, where he is a first-year student at Christ Church college.

But Mr Bhutto Zardari, who was named chairman of the PPP shortly after his mother's death, made it clear that he intended to follow the family tradition and move on to a career in politics. The PPP was founded 40 years ago by his grandfather, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the former president and prime minister who was executed in 1979.

Sweating slightly, the son of slain Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto slipped into the basement of a swanky London hotel, took his place behind a bank of microphones and looked up. Cameras flashed. He barely blinked.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari took a deep breath before meeting the world's media Tuesday, coolly claiming his mother's legacy even as he acknowledged he has much to learn. The 19-year-old had not faced reporters since soon after Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party named him their symbolic leader last month — an act many suggested smacked of royalty.

Young Bhutto Zardari was ready for the succession question, stressing the party needed to show a united front to stem violence after his mother's assassination on Dec. 27. They chose him unanimously. Politics was in his blood.

"It wasn't handed on like some piece of family furniture," he said of the post. "(The party) asked me to do it and I did."

Little is known about Bhutto Zardari, who is now a kind of modern-day Pakistani dauphin, with his father acting as de facto regent. Even his Facebook page has proved unreliable, as detractors put up duplicate profiles, offering comments on everything from his purported views to the dark good looks he inherited from his mother.

Meanwhile, Musharraf met with Scotland Yard investigators who are looking into the Assasination of Bhutto's mother.

President Pervez Musharraf today met for the first time with Scotland Yard investigators looking into the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and declared afterward that his government was committed to bringing her killers to justice.

Musharraf, who had initially described the British team's role as limited to forensic and technical assistance, appeared ready to grant them a wider scope of inquiry.

Almost from the time of Bhutto's death Dec. 27 in an attack by a gunman and a suicide bomber, there has been angry debate over whether the government was trying to cover up aspects of the case.