'Zardari wants to launch Bilawal pol career before elections'

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is intent on launching his son Bilawal's formal political career before the general election early next year though he will not achieve the minimum age of 25 for contesting polls till September 2013.

Zardari plans to launch the political career of Bilawal, the nominal head of the ruling PPP, by May next year when the general election would be held, the Dawn newspaper reported today, quoting its sources.

However, Bilawal will be eligible to contest an election only when he turns 25 in September next year.

The move has been influenced by the way in which the PPP's fortunes are closely linked to the family of the party's founder, late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

A PPP member of the National Assembly or lower house of Parliament from Sindh claimed that just like it was "unimaginable" for the Congress in India to go into elections without a Gandhi leading its campaign, it was unthinkable for PPP leaders to disassociate themselves from the Bhuttos.

"Whether somebody likes it or not, Bilawal (and his sisters) Asifa and Bakhtawar are the face of the party. The PPP is synonymous with the Bhuttos, and after the untimely death of their mother (former premier Benazir Bhutto), they have to don this mantle for the party's cause," the lawmaker was quoted as saying.

"It's an association that not even President Zardari can challenge. A Bhutto addressing an election rally always creates an extra amount of energy among voters, which the party cannot afford to lose with elections round the corner," he said.

The PPP Parliamentarian said 22-year-old Bakhtawar does not take much interest in politics and 19-year-old Asifa was too young to address public rallies.

Thus, he said, the PPP was left "with no choice but to field Bilawal in active politics." Bilawal's sisters would make "appearances in the run-up" to the polls.

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