Benazir's son warns of Pakistan's disintegration
Benazir Bhutto's son Bilawal warned yesterday that Pakistan could face disintegration unless free and fair elections are held, as he defended his appointment as his assassinated mother's successor.
In his first full press conference since taking over as head of the Pakistan People's Party, the 19-year-old renewed a call Tuesday for a UN-backed probe into her death, casting doubt on the Pakistani government investigation.
He also said the threat of violence did not stop him from taking over as party chief.
"How many Bhuttos can you kill? From every house a Bhutto will come," he said.
"The family's and party's request is for a UN sponsored investigation, because we do not believe that an investigation under the authority of the Pakistan government has the necessary transparency," he said in London.
"It is our belief that had she been given adequate protection she would be alive today," he told
reporters in London, after his return to Britain to resume his studies as an undergraduate at Oxford University later this month.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who took over as leader of the PPP after his mother was assassinated last month, said he was doing his duty and was not put off by the threat of being killed himself.
"I do not claim to have any aspiration. I was called and I stepped up to do what I was asked to do," he said, rejecting questions about the undemocratic nature of his PPP succession.
"It wasn't handed on like some piece of family furniture. They asked me to do it and I did," he said, speaking in English, and looking relaxed after a tense start before the cameras.
Bhutto Zardari also stressed the importance of elections, which were postponed until next month after his mother's killing.
"I fear for my country. I fear that if free and fair elections are not held it may disintegrate," he said.
Acknowledging his "limited" political experience, he said his immediate priority was to resume his studies, adding that otherwise "I will never be in a position to have sufficient wisdom to enter the political arena."
"At present my role as chairman is one into which I shall step gradually and carefully," he added.
He appealed for privacy once he returns to Christ Church College Oxford when terms starts next week.
"I'm only too willing to give time to talk to journalists ... but in moderation, not only for my own sake but for the sake of my fellow students and the college," he said.
"When I am at Oxford I hope that I can be left alone."
Meanwhile, Scotland Yard investigators helping probe the murder of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto met President Pervez Musharraf yesterday, a British diplomat said.
British High Commission (embassy) spokesman Aidan Liddle told AFP the anti-terrorism team met Musharraf at his office in Rawalpindi.
The detectives arrived in Pakistan on Friday after Musharraf called for Britain's help to investigate the gun and suicide bomb attack which killed the two-time former prime minister at an election rally on December 27.
The assassination sparked a wave of bloody rioting and forced general elections to be postponed by six weeks until February 18.
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