Bilawal Bhutto Fears More for Privacy Than for His Life

LONDON, Jan. 8, 2008 — -- As journalists waited in a tiny room in a London hotel, Bilawal Bhutto, a teenager who many think may one day become Pakistan's prime minister, took to the stage and reiterated his commitment to politics, democracy and to finishing his studies.

A scion of the Bhutto dynasty, which has ruled Pakistan intermittently for more than three decades, Bhutto returned to England this month after his mother, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated last month.

Since his mother's death, 19-year-old Bhutto has been propelled into the spotlight, after being named co-chairman of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), the country's main opposition party that was founded by his grandfather, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, 40 years ago.

But at his second major news conference, a confident Bhutto tried to brush off concerns about his youth, his inexperience and his nepotistic claims to the party leadership.

"Politics is also in my blood," he declared, adding that "although I admit that my experience to date is limited, I intend to learn."

But before he learns the ABCs of Pakistan's politics, he will first have to prepare for his new-year exams at Oxford University, where his mother spent four years in the 1970s, studying politics, philosophy and economics.

"One of my mother's greatest strengths was her education," he said today, as he asked the press to "give me some privacy to complete my undergraduate life."

Pictures of that "undergraduate life" made it into some of the U.K. Sunday papers this weekend.

The Sunday Telegraph showed the Oxford freshman hamming it up for the camera, wearing a bright-green fluffy jacket, in a series of photographs called "The incomprehensibles."

That photograph was a far cry from the solemn young man who said today that his decision to enter politics was based on his mother's wishes, who wanted him to "return to Pakistan and get involved in politics" after graduation.

It's All in the Family

But commentators have criticized the Bhutto family for running the PPP like a mom-and-pop shop, handing over the reins from one family member to another.