A Bhutto Successor? [19 y/o son]

[arcos]

Source: TIME

A senior official of Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) told TIME late Saturday that the slain former prime minister's 19-year-old son, Bilawal, will likely be named as her political heir and the new party leader on Sunday. PPP members are due to meet to discuss the party's future and to give Bilawal, a student at Oxford, a chance to read his mother's last will and testament.

A Pakistani television news channel also carried reports that Bilawal will be made the new leader, which the channel said accorded with Benazir Bhutto's wishes. If confirmed, the teenager will become the third leader of the 40-year-old center-left party, one of Pakistan's most powerful. Bilawal will follow his grandfather, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who founded the PPP in 1967, led Pakistan as Prime Minister for four years in the mid 1970s and was hanged in 1979 by a military government, and Benazir, who took over from her father and was killed in a shooting and suicide bomb attack two days ago.

The quick anointment of a Bhutto to head the PPP will help rally party members devastated by the assassination of their tough but beloved leader. The party hopes to ride a wave of sympathy in parliamentary elections that are set for Jan. 8 but may yet be postponed in the face of widespread violence around the country. Rival opposition parties have called for a boycott of the polls but PPP officials say their party intends to participate.

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Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/abhuttosuccessor;_ylt=AmeM4p.93wRUtihT1IqFWNys0NUE

[Botany]

1. If it was me I would get out of the family business.

Grandfather hanged, mother shot, other relatives killed in different ways, and
now "he" wants in on "it?"

[ColbertWatcher]

2. I heard about that this morning...

...and I thought, man does this family need some better luck.

[Fridays Child]

3. She was for democracy but this sounds like a coronation to me.

:(

[harmonicon]

6. yeah, me too - pretty sad

Of course it's horrible that Bhutto was killed, but she wasn't all that great - just better (in most respects - I'm no expert on asian politics) than Musharif. I can't imagine this move is good for this guy's future or the future of Pakistan. I also wonder if we're seeing a trend in democracy the world over: dynasties. Here, just in the last century, we've had the Kennedys, Bushes and Clintons.... and these are just the big ones, not counting all of the lesser known senators who are sons/daughters/wives of senators, and governors. Perhaps all democracies have always worked this way. Too bad.

[annabanana]

7. There isn't any democracy in Pakistan...

It is now, and has been, the Cult of Personality. The leaders are like rock stars with a posse. The bigger the posse, the bigger the leader.

[ikojo]

11. In many countries people vote for a slate of candidates

who campaign on a party platform, not the individual candidate as is done in the US.

[Igel]

17. Yes, but it's also not unknown for

people to vote for a party because of a single leader's name, and get a slate of candidates loyal to that party ... or that name ... who are expected to vote as a bloc. Sometimes distinguishing the 'leader' from the 'party platform' is tough--there may be some give and take, but ultimately the leader accepts the platform or the platform changes.

It's also fairly common in some parliamentary systems for the party who has the majority (or plurality with a coalition to provide a majority) to simply put their party leader in the PM's slot.

[quigleyunder]

4. two brothers disappeared. This family is being exterminated by

somebody who is very afraid of them.

[dipsydoodle]

5. I'd have thought the family had enough problems

with the outstanding charges of money laundering etc.

[balantz]

8. Maybe he will be a good leader of his people.

[ikojo]

12. He's 19....someone will be pulling those

strings for years to come. Not many 19 year olds in the US I would trust to be political leaders, that is for sure. Maybe kids in other parts of the world are not as infantalized as those in the US, so it may be different. Maybe kids in his part of the world are more mature.

[balantz]

13. He was raised in a volatile political environment and famliy.

I'm just trying to be positive, and something about his picture struck me. Anyway, I heard he will continue his schooling for now. Perhaps he will be prepared in the near future to serve his country. :)

[Igel]

16. His daddy.

The regent, in other words, lacking the brand name "Bhutto".

[bdamomma]

22. "maybe kids are more mature"???

or maybe they are more in tuned to politics and love of country.

[davidinalameda]

9. but who will be the power behind the throne

hope its someone capable

[MasonJar]

10. Why should we believe that she was truly guilty of money-laundering?

Who said so? The people who wanted her defeated or dead? To me she appears a great lady, who sacrificed her life for her country. Who would go to that extreme for mere cash rewards?

[abelenkpe]

14. my son's teacher

is from Pakistan. She goes home to visit family every december-january and is there now. We called her recently to check up on her and make sure she and her family were safe. For the first few days we couldn't get through at all. The telephone lines were not letting anyone through. But we finally got to talk to her and while she was fine (so far) she was surprised by the west's portrayal of Bhutto. She said Bhutto is a gangster. Her whole family is. There are many groups of competing gangsters in the country and none of them really represent democracy or the interests of the common man. Maybe that's why it is so hard to makes sense of the region? I dunno. Just passing that on for what it's worth.

[EFerrari]

18. She didn't seem to have any connection to actual grassroots

activists for democracy, i.e., the jurists that were protesting.

[closeupready]

21. There is probably some truth to that.

My understanding is that the party she ran, the Pakistan People's Party, was established by her father to protect the interests on the poor in Pakistan, and as I understand it, she ran on a sort of "chicken in every pot" platform. So the poor gave them their votes, and they actually delivered in the form of quality of life improvements, such as food, clothing and shelter. (Imagine that? An effective left-wing party. In the third world, no less.)

I don't quite understand why your child's teacher means by "they are gangsters", but I imagine this is the propaganda from the right wing elements of their society.

[bdamomma]

23. interesting comment, only Pakistanis know about their leaders

we have alot in common because we all know that ours are gangsters.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

26. I remember when Bhutto was last in power

I had dinner with a Pakistani student and we started talking about Pakistani politics. He started complaining about Bhutto and her government and how they were corrupt and inept and stated his preference for a military dictatorship because they provided stability and strong government. I think many Pakistani people lost faith in Bhutto during her two terms in power and your friend's attitude is probably reflective of this

Tariq Ali has written an excellent article about Bhutto and some of the alleged dealings of her family here
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n24/ali_01_.html

[SoCalDem]

15. Shame on her for "willing" him to die for a country he has little connection to

except for the parts where his grandfather, two uncles and his mother were killed by people who lived there :eyes:

I'm hoping he meets a nice girl at Oxford, gets married and becomes a doctor like HE wants to be..or any other occupation HE chooses..

[EFerrari]

19. He's so young to be pushed into such a dangerous choice. n/t

[Karenina]

27. And I wish for him the strength and fortitude to

JUST. SAY. NO.

[Kip Humphrey]

20. Great line: "Democracy is the best revenge"

[bdamomma]

24. I thought so too when I heard it.

[alcibiades_mystery]

25. I almost puked in my mouth when I heard that

Democracy is revenge???

And there's nobody more knowledgeable than a nineteen year old to run this party?

This isn't democracy, and democracy hasn't the slightest thing to do with revenge. The whole thing is disgusting.