Bilawal will be groomed, slowly and methodically
Tariq Butt
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari plans to spend a considerable time to groom and acclimatize his son Bilawal, who heads the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) as chairman, to the domestic political environment as he returns home in September after finishing his studies at Oxford University.
Informed sources quoted the president as saying that Bilawal will need quite some time to familiarize himself with the political environment before effectively assuming the political responsibility and party mantle.
He also requires to know about Bulleh Shah and other Sufi saints, Zardari said according to a visitor to the Presidency.Under the Oxford University rules, Bilawal stayed away from active politics, but the restriction will end in September this year when he will come back to Pakistan. Recently, the Presidency announced that Bilawal would be given a political responsibility in the PPP but it did not elaborate.
Before taking up his political role, Bilawal, accompanied by PPP Secretary General Jehangir Badr, would visit China, repeating the tradition of his grandfather, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB), and mother, Benazir Bhutto.
Bilawal would turn 23 on September 20 this year and would need another two years to attain the minimum age of 25 to contest election to the National Assembly for a bigger political role. The next parliamentary polls are due in early 2013 if all goes well.
The president did not unfold to the visitors the plan to field Bilawal as a candidate after the young man would become eligible to contest, but sources said that the PPP chairman would surely vie for the National Assembly seat his grandfather and mother used to fight from Larkana. Now, Zardaris sister Faryal Talpur is MNA from this constituencyNA-207.
As Bilawal flies back, Zardari has publicly almost ended his PPP related activities at the Presidency in the light of a judgment of the Lahore High Court (LHC), which, though did not ban them, had disapproved the use of the premises for this purpose.
However, Zardari tells the visitors to the Presidency that the flak he is subjected on account of PPP related activities is not justified because he has very little time for this as he is always too busy with his other daily official engagements.
Since he assumed the office, he has undertaken 10 visits to China, six to Turkey and gone to many countries which, he says, show that he doesnt have much time left for political activities. When one visitor pointed out that he was the president of Pakistan, not of PPP alone, Zardari said his hectic schedule demonstrates that he acts only as required under the Constitution.
Sources said that there were also plans Bilawal would be attending some hearings in the Supreme Court on the presidential reference regarding Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB)s trial on murder charges in the late seventies if the proceedings continued by that time. However, according to another visitor, the president believes a lot was yet to be revealed through the lengthy tape-recording in the apex court. Just a fraction of it has so far been divulged while Zardaris main wrestler, an obvious allusion to Babar Awan, who is arguing on the presidents behalf, is yet to fully put up his performance.
Sources said that the president is appreciative of the chief justice for hearing his plea and hopes to get political dividends from the Supreme Court decision that would answer the question of law raised by him in the reference.(http://www.thenews.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=16635)
Tariq Butt
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari plans to spend a considerable time to groom and acclimatize his son Bilawal, who heads the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) as chairman, to the domestic political environment as he returns home in September after finishing his studies at Oxford University.
Informed sources quoted the president as saying that Bilawal will need quite some time to familiarize himself with the political environment before effectively assuming the political responsibility and party mantle.
He also requires to know about Bulleh Shah and other Sufi saints, Zardari said according to a visitor to the Presidency.Under the Oxford University rules, Bilawal stayed away from active politics, but the restriction will end in September this year when he will come back to Pakistan. Recently, the Presidency announced that Bilawal would be given a political responsibility in the PPP but it did not elaborate.
Before taking up his political role, Bilawal, accompanied by PPP Secretary General Jehangir Badr, would visit China, repeating the tradition of his grandfather, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB), and mother, Benazir Bhutto.
Bilawal would turn 23 on September 20 this year and would need another two years to attain the minimum age of 25 to contest election to the National Assembly for a bigger political role. The next parliamentary polls are due in early 2013 if all goes well.
The president did not unfold to the visitors the plan to field Bilawal as a candidate after the young man would become eligible to contest, but sources said that the PPP chairman would surely vie for the National Assembly seat his grandfather and mother used to fight from Larkana. Now, Zardaris sister Faryal Talpur is MNA from this constituencyNA-207.
As Bilawal flies back, Zardari has publicly almost ended his PPP related activities at the Presidency in the light of a judgment of the Lahore High Court (LHC), which, though did not ban them, had disapproved the use of the premises for this purpose.
However, Zardari tells the visitors to the Presidency that the flak he is subjected on account of PPP related activities is not justified because he has very little time for this as he is always too busy with his other daily official engagements.
Since he assumed the office, he has undertaken 10 visits to China, six to Turkey and gone to many countries which, he says, show that he doesnt have much time left for political activities. When one visitor pointed out that he was the president of Pakistan, not of PPP alone, Zardari said his hectic schedule demonstrates that he acts only as required under the Constitution.
Sources said that there were also plans Bilawal would be attending some hearings in the Supreme Court on the presidential reference regarding Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB)s trial on murder charges in the late seventies if the proceedings continued by that time. However, according to another visitor, the president believes a lot was yet to be revealed through the lengthy tape-recording in the apex court. Just a fraction of it has so far been divulged while Zardaris main wrestler, an obvious allusion to Babar Awan, who is arguing on the presidents behalf, is yet to fully put up his performance.
Sources said that the president is appreciative of the chief justice for hearing his plea and hopes to get political dividends from the Supreme Court decision that would answer the question of law raised by him in the reference.(http://www.thenews.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=16635)
