By Muhammad Najeeb, IANS
Islamabad/Larkana : Bilawal, the teenage son of Benazir Bhutto, was Sunday picked to head her Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) three days after her assassination. The party also decided to contest the Jan 8 general elections and demanded an international probe into the murder of the two-time prime minister.
After a high-level meeting of the PPP central executive committee (CEC) members in Larkana, where the post funeral services were held, Bhutto’s husband Asif Ali Zardari said that Benazir had named him as her political successor in her will, which she had written on Oct 16, two days before her return to the country on Oct 18.
But Zardari said he wanted his son 19-year-old son Bilawal, a student at Oxford University, to take charge of the party.
Bilawal, who addressed the media in English, said: “I am thankful to the CEC for nominating and reposing confidence in me. I will stand as the symbol of the federation and I stand committed to the federation. My mother always said that democracy is the best revenge.”
Bilawal also said since he was studying, his father would be looking after the party affairs in his absence. He said he would take full control of the party after he had finished his studies.
Earlier, PPP vice president Makhdoom Amin Fahim said that according to Bhutto’s will that was read out in the CEC meeting by Bilawal, Zardari was to replace her as party chairperson.
“According to the will, she said her husband will lead the party in case she is murdered,” Fahim said.
However, Zardari refused to lead the party and instead nominated Bilawal, who would be guided by the party leaders, Fahim added.
Zardari said that his children Bilawal, Bakhtawar and Assefa had decided to change their names. His son would now be called Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and his two daughters would also hyphenate the Bhutto surname to Zardari.
The press conference was punctuated with slogans like “Benazir is alive”.
The PPP also said that Makhdoom Amin Fahim would be its candidate for prime minister in case the party wins the Jan 8 national elections.
Zardari said the party has decided to contest the polls in the larger national interest and Bhutto gave her life while campaigning for the elections.
He termed the former ruling party Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) as “Qatal (murderer) League”. He said the objective of the PPP is to defeat the “Qatal League” in the country.
When Bilawal was asked a question and gave a confused reply, Zardari requested media persons that Bilawal “was of tender age, though he has been nominated as chairman of the party”.
Zardari said that he would lead the party in the elections but would not be a candidate. Asked if he would contest polls in the future, he said that it depends on the party.
Zardari also urged former prime minister Nawaz Sharif not to boycott elections.
Demanding an international probe into his wife’s murder, Zardari said: “We reject their (Pakistan government’s) commissions, judges and police. We want an international investigation team to probe the killing of Benazir.”
“We will write to the United Nations and the British Government to order an international investigation into the martyrdom of Benazir Bhutto.”
The development came as millions remembered the slain two-time former prime minister in prayers across the country where mob violence following her killing Thursday has left 32 people killed and hundreds injured in street violence.
But the storm over her gory death – with the government insisting she was not killed by gunfire or suicide bomber and the opposition ridiculing the claim -raged for the third day Sunday. To add to Islamabad’s woes, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for an international probe into Bhutto’s killing.
A Pakistani television station also contradicted government claims on Bhutto’s death by releasing footage showing a gunman firing at the former prime minister in Rawalpindi Thursday before an accomplice detonated a suicide bomb.
Bhutto, 54, was killed Thursday evening minutes after she addressed an election rally at Liaqat Bagh ground. The assassination evoked violent unrest in Pakistan and intense international condemnation.
In Islamabad, the Election Commission of Pakistan said it will meet at 9.30 a.m. Monday “to review the situation regarding the holding of polls”.
An official said the elections are likely to be postponed as several ECP offices particularly in Sindh were set on fire.
Millions of Pakistanis took part in the “Rasm-e-qul” ritual prayers in the country Sunday in memory of Bhutto, the first woman leader to govern a Muslim state and one who may well have become prime minister for a third time next month.
The largest of the congregations was held at the Bhutto House in Larkana.
Zardari, Bilawal, nephew Zuilfikar Ali (Junior) and others went to her grave where they laid floral wreaths and offered prayers for the departed soul.
DawnNews TV showed dramatic exclusive images of a young gunman, wearing sunglasses and dressed in a light-brown sports jacket, firing at Bhutto as she stood atop the sunroof of her SUV while leaving the Liaqat Bagh rally.
The footage showed Bhutto collapsing into her armoured-vehicle before the suicide blast, contradicting official government claims that she recoiled only after the blast and cracked her skull on the sunroof.
The government version, which included only partial footage of the attack, has been met with widespread derision. Bhutto’s senior aides inside the vehicle are adamant that she was shot.
Japanese carmaker Toyota also found fault with the government claim, saying Bhutto could not have been fatally injured even if she did hit her head on the sunroof lever of her Land Cruiser.
An unnamed Toyota official pointed out that the lever could not have caused the head injury as it was installed inside the vehicle and was at least six centimetres from the edge of the sunroof.
At the same time, he did not dispute the fact that there could have been bloodstains on the lever. “This is understandable. If she was hit in the head by a bullet, bloodstains could have been left on the lever.”
Adding to the controversy over Bhutto’s death, a media report said a senior Pakistani police officer had opposed an autopsy on her body although this is mandated in each murder case.