[nukkad] The son also rises

[Amir'AliMackwani <>]

http://www.dawn.com/2008/01/09/top17.htm



*January 09, 2008 *     * Wednesday *   * Zilhaj 29, 1428 *


*COMMENT: The son also rises

*

*By Irfan Husain*


IT was a scene Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s mother would have loved: a room 
packed with journalists, TV cameras and microphones, with the world 
watching and listening to every word.

The Gore Hotel at Queen’s Gate in London was the setting for a press 
conference for Benazir Bhutto’s son, the newly-anointed chairman of the 
Pakistan People’s Party. Half an hour before the scheduled appearance of 
young Bilawal at 11am on Tuesday, there was not even standing room left 
in the rather small conference hall. Some of London’s best-known 
journalists were forced to sit on the floor or stand in corners.

Flanked by aunt Sanam Bhutto and Wajid Shamsul Hasan on the right, and 
historian Victoria Schofield, Bilawal was calm and composed as he read 
his prepared statement. Basically, he explained that he was made the 
chairman of the PPP “because it was recognised at this moment of crisis 
the party needed a close association with my mother through the blood 
line… Politics is also in my blood. And although I admit that my 
experience to date is limited, I intend to learn.”

He went on to appeal for privacy during his student life, asking that he 
be “left alone” during his time at Oxford.

He concluded the short statement by asserting that he and his family did 
not believe that a government inquiry into his mother’s assassination 
would reveal the truth, citing the destruction of forensic evidence.

The question-and-answer session was moderated by Simon Walker, a friend 
of the Bhutto family, and during the next half an hour, Bilawal fielded 
questions from some of the toughest journalists in London.

The bulk of the grilling was focussed on getting Bilawal’s take on why 
he was appointed to head Pakistan’s biggest political party, given his 
inexperience, his age, and the fact that he had spent most of his life 
out of the country.

Jeremy Paxman, considered the attack dog of TV interviewers, asked 
Bilawal bluntly how he expected to relate to Pakistan’s people and its 
problems as he had hardly ever lived there.

A few pointed queries made it clear that people here did not think much 
of dynastic politics. Paxman made the point by accusing the Bhuttos of 
treating the PPP as a piece of ‘family furniture’ to be handed down as 
an inheritance. Lyse Doucet from the BBC asked if he would heal the 
rifts in the Bhutto family by reaching out to his cousins. And one 
pointed question about Asif Zardari’s reputation being a handicap in his 
running the PPP would have embarrassed any son.

Sensibly, Bilawal kept his answers simple and short. Where his mother 
would have used her eloquence and her experience to use each question as 
a platform for a speech, her son was conscious of his limitations.

When he was asked about the possibility of his father’s reputation 
losing votes, he simply made the point that Asif Zardari had served over 
eight years in jail without any charge being proved against him. He 
added that if people felt uncomfortable with the PPP’s choice of 
leadership, they would not vote for it.

Apart from being relaxed under so much pressure, Bilawal showed glimpses 
of a wry sense of humour. When asked if he feared for his life, he 
answered: “Actually, I fear more for my privacy than I do for my life.”

Low-key, almost subdued, he showed a hint of passion when asked what 
would happen to the PPP if there were no more Bhuttos to lead it. 
Defiantly, he rapped the table and exclaimed: “A Bhutto will emerge from 
every house in Pakistan!” And poignantly, he made the point that with 
his mother, “Pakistan had lost its best hope for democracy, but not its 
only hope.”

After the press conference was over, a few hardened journalists stayed 
behind to exchange their impressions. The consensus was that the young 
man had been impressive in a quiet sort of way. He certainly lacked the 
Bhutto flamboyance that was so evident in his mother and grandfather. 
But he had a certain gravitas unusual in somebody his age.

There was a reserve, perhaps cultivated deliberately to ward off a 
prying media during a turbulent childhood, that was beyond his years. 
Even Paxman, a journalist who has probably devoured more politicians 
than he has hot meals, agreed that Bilawal had handled himself very well 
under trying circumstances.

-- 
Amir'Ali Mackwani
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