KARACHI: For the first time since the assassination of Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto in 2007, her son and party Chairman, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, is likely to skip her death anniversary because of reported differences with his father, Asif Zardari.
Zardari, who is the party’s co-chairman, had gone to London to persuade his ‘angry’ son to return home so that he could attend the anniversary event in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in Larkana on Saturday. But by all indications he did not succeed. “Zardari is returning home alone as Bilawal prefers to stay in London,” a source privy to the development said.
The spokesmen for Zardari and Bilawal had little to say when approached for comments on the matter. “Zardari is returning to take part in Benazir’s death anniversary function, but we have no confirmation as yet about Bilawal’s return,” the former president’s spokesman, Senator Farhatullah Babar, said.
Senator Jehangir Badar, who was recently appointed political adviser to Bilawal, said: “I am waiting for confirmation from the chairman whether he will come or not.” But he hastened to add that there were no differences between the son and the father and those spreading rumours about these would not succeed in their vested interests.
Talking to journalists at the Bhuttos’ mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh where he reviewed arrangements for the event, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Shah said either Bilawal or Zardari would take part in the death anniversary. “We expect both will be here on the occasion and, if not, one of them would definitively attend the event,” he said.
Internews
