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.

Benazir Bhutto was only 25 when her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was hanged by Pakistan's military dictatorship under Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. At the time, her mother, Nusrat Bhutto, took over control of the party.

But Nusrat Bhutto's time at the top was short-lived when she fell ill with cancer in 1982, after which Benazir became acting leader of the party.

But Bhutto today bristled at suggestions that the PPP's leadership was effectively being "handed down like a piece of family furniture."

Displaying flashes of the impatience that made his mother notorious among journalists, the Oxford undergraduate repeatedly insisted, "I did what I was asked to do."

"Pakistan was burning and we needed to show a united front. It was a moment of crisis and we needed to stop the violence," he added.

When asked how he could hold any aspiration to lead Pakistan's impoverished masses to democracy, he responded: "I do not claim to have any aspiration. I've been called and I've stepped up which is what I was asked to do."

Stop Supporting Musharraf

The young history student also had a message for the United States, saying that "the problem is that dictatorships breed extremism and once the U.S. stops supporting dictators we can successfully tackle extremists."

Political commentators have expressed skepticism about the young Bhutto's capacity to deliver on his promises, with many observing that he has barely lived in Pakistan, having grown up largely in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and London during his mother's self-imposed eight-year exile.

For the time being, however, Bhutto has pledged to "step gradually and carefully" into his new role, saying that his mother's death made him "more resilient."

"We lost our best hope, but not our only hope," he mused, before reiterating Benazir's familiar slogan, "How many Bhuttos will you kill? Every house will issue forth a Bhutto."

Those were his mother's words when she addressed crowds in Larkana, the Bhutto family's ancestral stronghold, on Dec. 23. Four days later, she was killed.

As the investigation into Benazir Bhutto's assassination picks up pace in Pakistan, the complete lack of any security checks at today's news conference was conspicuous.

Bhutto refused to comment on his security arrangements, but a spokesman for Oxford University told The Telegraph that the university intends to "review our security arrangements."

Although the Oxford freshman said that he feared "more for his privacy" than for his life, such concerns are unlikely to be far from the mind of the latest Bhutto to enter Pakistan's complex political arena.