son of President Asif Ali Zardari, will remain low profile and slow paced for a couple of years till a few months before he turns 25 to qualify for contesting a National Assembly seat.
“Bilawal’s formal debut in politics took place last month when he undertook a visit to China, accompanied by senior PPP leaders including Jehangir Badr,” a presidential aide told The News. He said this was very important symbolically as Bilawal followed the footsteps of his mother and grandfather, who had embarked on similar trips at the start of their political careers.
The aide said Bilawal’s involvement in political activities would not be too visible in the immediate future. He plans to do his Masters from Britain and would then engage himself in politics in a full-fledged way.
Bilawal became 23 on Sep 21 and celebrated his birthday quietly mainly due to massive devastation caused by rains and floods in Sindh.The presidential advisor said Bilawal would not rush to heighten his political activities, as he was required to learn a lot first. Bilawal would qualify to contest election in Sep 2013. By that time, the next parliamentary polls would be held if all goes well.
When Zardari announced to a party gathering at the presidency a few months back that Bilawal would start his political career in September this year, it was stated by PPP leaders that the Young man was all set to be fully active politically. Later, the president stated on July 26 that the PPP chairman would contest election from Lyari, Karachi, the traditional stronghold of the PPP.
The presidential aide said that when Bilawal would attain the qualifying age to fight election, he would have several options to be a candidate.
However, by announcing that Bilawal would contest from Lyari, President Zardari made it clear that the Naudero constituency of Larkana, which was traditionally fought by Bhuttos since 1970, would now be in the control of Zardaris. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was twice elected to the National Assembly from this seat while Benazir Bhutto always won from here with a thumping majority. She had filed her nomination papers for this very seat, NA-207 Larkana, when she was assassinated in December 2007 just before the parliamentary polls. After her murder, President Zardari’s sister, Faryal Talpur contested and won this seat. It was the first time that a non-Bhutto returned from here.
The president plans to groom and acclimatize Bilawal to the domestic political environment before the young man effectively assumes the political responsibility and party mantle. “He needs to learn the works of Bulleh Shah etc.,” Zardari said recently. Bilawal still has two years to go to contest a National Assembly seat and subsequently become prime minister if his party wins.
A US Embassy Islamabad cable released by WikiLeaks said that: “Within the party rank and file, there continues to be considerable doubt over Zardari’s right or capability to be PPP leader. This lack of confidence formed Zardari’s shrewd decision to name Benazir Bhutto’s son Bilawal (a direct descendant of party founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto) as PPP Co-Chair, whom Zardari is now grooming politically”. “Zardari has three children with his late wife: Bilawal, Bakhtawar, and Asifa. Family friends say that the children were closer to Benazir until her death, but Zardari has since become interested in grooming Bilawal for public life.”
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