Teen with world on his shoulders

Benazir Bhutto's student son vows to continue fight for democracy after he is named co-chairman of party

"MY MOTHER always said democracy is the best revenge." With those words, spoken in English, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, a shy, 19-year-old student, took centre-stage in Pakistan's tumultuous and bloody politics yesterday.

In the wake of her assassination, Benazir's Bhutto's oldest child was made co-chairman of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which was founded by his grandfather, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was executed under previous military rule 30 years ago.

The other co-chairman is his father, Asif Zardari, 51, who will run the party until his son – a first-year student at Oxford University – graduates, and probably long after that. Mr Zardari has been dogged by allegations of corruption dating back to Ms Bhutto's time as prime minister.

At his late mother's home in the village of Naudero, in the south of the country, Mr Bhutto Zardari – who took the name Bhutto for the first time – was unveiled to the media, following a meeting of the leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

He read out Ms Bhutto's will and instructions for the party, a document that few others in the PPP knew existed.

In the document, which Mr Zardari said was dated 16 October, two days before her fateful return from exile, she had decreed the succession of the PPP leadership, fearing for her life.

The party also resolved to contest elections scheduled for 8 January, which could led to a further clash with the government, which appears set on a postponement in the wake of Ms Bhutto's assassination.

Looking frightened and saying little, Mr Bhutto Zardari sat with his father to one side and Amin Fahim, the party's deputy chairman and likely candidate to be prime minister, on the other.

The teenager cradled a picture of his mother in his lap and, when he spoke, it was only in English. With most of his life spent in exile, he is thought to speak little or no Urdu, Pakistan's national language.

"My party's long struggle for democracy will continue, with new vigour," he said. "While I am at university … my father will take care of the party. When I return, I promise to lead the party as my mother wanted me to."

His father stopped reporters from asking further questions, saying he was "of tender age".

Mr Zardari asked the United Nations and the British government to investigate his wife's assassination and said he had denied requests for Ms Bhutto's body to be subjected to a post-mortem examination because it would have been an "insult".

Pakistani television has released new pictures said to show her attackers – a gunman and a suicide bomber. They also apparently show Ms Bhutto inside her car and no longer standing up through the sun roof when the explosion happened.

The interior ministry claims she was not hit by bullets but was killed when the force of the blast knocked her head against a sun-roof fitting. But the PPP insists she was killed by two bullets, one of which pierced her skull and another that hit her in the neck.

Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, agreed to consider helping any investigation into her death after a phone call to Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf. A spokesman said: "T

he Prime Minister underlined the need to push ahead with the democratic process and to avoid any significant delays to the electoral timetable. Potential international support to the Pakistani investigation into the tragic death of Benazir Bhutto was also raised, with both sides agreeing to consider this suggestion."

Mr Zardari said the PPP would contest the planned 8 January elections, and Nawaz Sharif, the other main opposition leader, then dropped his threat to boycott the polls. Pakistan's Election Commission is due to meet today, but a governing party official suggested the polls were likely to be delayed by up to four months.

THE DYNASTY CONTINUES

THE newest member of the Bhutto dynasty to enter Pakistan's political fray, 19-year-old son Bilawal, has spent much of his young life abroad.

His parents' careful efforts to keep him out of the limelight have been thwarted by his mother Benazir's untimely death – leaving the teenager to take on her mantle as leader of the Pakistan People's Party.

Born in 1988, he followed his mother into self-imposed exile in Dubai in 1999 and attended the Rashid School for Boys, where he became vice-president of the student council.

The school teaches in English to a programme developed from the UK's own National Curriculum but with great importance also attached to the teaching of Arabic language and Islamic studies.

He has now followed in the footsteps of his mother and maternal grandfather by attending Oxford University, where he is a first-year student.

Bilawal, who has two younger sisters, is said to be a keen horseman and a black belt in Taekwondo.

His father, Asif Ali Zardari, who will run the party while Bilawal completes his studies, is a controversial figure in Pakistani politics.

He was nicknamed "Mr Ten Per Cent" over his wheeler-dealings in government as environment minister.

He was also accused in 1996 of conspiring to murder his wife's brother, but these charges were set aside.

The marriage to Ms Bhutto was widely believed to be in trouble.

Mr Zardari announced yesterday that his children, who had previously used only his surname, would now add their mother's family name as well.