hopefully after the dust settles and emotions are calmer..bhutto's son will continue his studies and hopefully develop other interests....he has now become a target as his mother..the murderers may want to nip his potential in the bud...his father seems like a very selfish man..I hope the kid stays in England and stays safe

J Martignetti, Cranston, RI

Politics in that part of the world is very dirty which one requires a lot of time to fathom and be able to tell a friend from a foe.
This 'kid' is too naive, young and is already being manipulated by the the 'crooked' father, who knows that the 'people' would never accept him at the helm of the party.
Surely, both the asian neighbours can find 'other' leaders amongst the masses!! Seems not!!

Arvin, London, GB

Hold on in there Pervez,.....Pakistan is not quite ready for democracy yet , get that uniform back on and try again in 5 years or so .

gordon lonsdale, northampton, uk

This recent democracy idea clearly does not come naturally to the human psyche. As the French say, "Chassez le naturel et il revient au galop."

Neel, Oxford, UK

So in a country where men are dominant, how come her son bares her fathers surname and not her husbands?

Kris, London,

Benazir kept on emphasising the 'Restoration of Democracy' in her interviews and we now know exactly what she meant. The PPP has always been and always be a Bhutto family run business whose business is to loot the country's wealth. Now i know exactly what Musharaff meant when he termed the political administrations in the 1990's as 'sham democracies'.

Asif Altaf, Marlow, UK

So much for 60 yrs of independence - Bhutto's in Pakistan: Ghandi's in India. One Raj seems to have replaced another.

Andrew Lewis, Cardiff,

What a brave son he is! To speek with such force after his mothers death requires a great deal of courage, the people who are talking about his lack of charisma, all i can say is, do not slay him down just yet, if he fails- then he will learn, he will never succeed with people criticizing him so heavily allready.

Scott Wilson, Dunfermline,

Well the alternate is the Islamists of Sharif & Jamaat Islami?! Bring on this Oxford-educated 19-year old, I say!

A Syed, London, England

Logically speaking can a 19 years old boy run the affairs of a government ???

salman, Rennes, France

"Bhutto's son Bilawal crowned head of political party and dynasty"
This is a very democratic move for the start of democracy in Pakistan. It means a lot for the democracy when we see little dynasties coming up: Bushes, Clintons, and now Bhutto. And you thought that Putin wasn't democratic? Oh, yes, he didn't create a dynasty!
What a joke!

Oleg, Toronto, Canada

hehe his glasses are tilted but not tinted.

I apologise for the obviously unfunny pun

punner, Yorkshire,

sadly the Bhutto family will go the same way as the Ghandi family, Biliwal should stay in the UK and leave politics alone.

gordon eversfield, Ashford, UK

May Allah bless Benazir, It is sad that the party leadership lacks confidence to move on without the Bhutto name and once again are leading a lamb to the slaughter house of politics. The Bhutto's have sacrificed so much for Pakistan and to put forward her son as the Chairman is totally selfish of the leadership, once again they have placed the Great Bhutto's to sacrifice their precious blood for the sak of Pakistan.
I believe, Aitzaz Ahsan should lead the party as he is the only one with the public support and a visionery like Bhutto to appeal to the Masses. The Party should not ask the Bhutto's to sacrifice any more than what they have done already.
Zulifkar Ali Bhutto created the party for the people and not the party for the Bhutto's. Let them mourne in peace and grow up as young men and women so that one day they have the ability to choose their path. Don't snatch their childhood away from them.
Political parties need to move away from personality and dynastic rule.

shams tabrez, london, england

....... And still the party leadership claim to be democratic. The leadership has lived in Britain and the U.S. for years but, alas, it has hardly picked up any ingredients of democracy. There is no succession in a democratic set-up. Zardari family has exploited the good name of party's founder, late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, for its self aggrandizement thus bringing bad name to both its founder and the party . How far they can go to exploit late Z.A.B's name and good will is evident from the fact that the Zardaris change their surname as a vote catching gimmick. Benazir Bhutto's husband , Asif Zardari who had a 'reputation' of being Mr. Ten Percent in her first premiership and Mr. Thirty Percnt' in the second term and still has corruption charges in swiss and pakistani courts, chose to share chairmanship with his son and is likely to rule from behind the scene. If the party comes into power for a third time, Mr Zardari will surely elevate his position to become Mr. Fifty percent.

Abdul Rahman, London, U.K.

Lets hope now that the West and the ignorant masses that follow the Bhutto People's Party (BPP) can finally see their true colours. The BPP has never had any interest in democracy as can be seen from the way they run their own party. Their sole motivation in life is to line their own pockets on the back of empty promises made to those who have little or no hope.

Pakistan has survived without the Bhuttos in power for most of its past and it will continue to do so without them in the future.

AMN, London, UK

Aziz and all the others criticising Bhutto - do you really think that she only wanted to return to Pakistan to take money?? Do you not think she had enough money to live a life of comfort. Why would she leave her young children in search for another pay day?

The reality is - she wanted to bring to fruition a family dream of returning democracy to Pakistan. No leader is perfect, however, is there anyone in Pakistan who could have been a better leader for the country at this moment in time? Pakistan needs to unite in order to allow the country to develop, and to refute the threat of extremism. Sadly, I fear that the hopes for this died along with Benazir. She has sacrificed her life for Pakistan - in vain.

Lets not forget - she did not ask for her son to take charge. Her wishes were for her husband to take charge - he has nominated his son.

If you were her son, would you not feel like it was your duty to lead the party, to make your mothers hopes and dreams come true?

Simon, London, UK

how many of Bhutto's so called corruption charges were proved?

Simon, London, UK

another lost opportunity - rather than elect a new leader democratically they have annointed the successor - the queen is dead long live the king - what a farce
better still with a military dictatorship than a fuedal dictatorship that changes between 2 families.
thank God that Mushraff is not grooming an off spring to take over from him although i may be mistaken

shahid, london, UK

what a joke
late Bhutto has laid to rest all doubts regarding her true feelings towards democracy,the will chooses a 19 year-old !!!!!

zahra, islamabad, pakistan

Zardari is not known as Mr Ten Percent for no reason, and in a cunning move, has rebranded all his children Butto. A real stroke of genius. A bit like rebranding a Daewoo as a Chevrolet. Interestingly though, Bilawal cannot speak the language of his country. Mind you, this only confirms the hatred this family now has for the country (Unlike Zulfikar sahib). After all, what kind of an attachment can a person have to a country if he could not even bother learn that country's language. He's had 19 years of opportunity.

Furthermore, this move confirms that Bhutto never had any interest in democracy. Surely, if she did, she would have requested a democractically elected leader of the PPP? This further confirms how hollow their arguments are - they have based their whole campaigns on the removal of an "undemocratically" elected leader.

Hassan Azam, Banbury , Oxfordshire, England

Re: Bilawal Bhutto
Personally, I don't favor succession in the political arena of a
candidate that has connections to a dynastic family. Leaders
of dynasty oriented political forces have a tendency to expect
ridiculous entitlements that may spawn corruptions. However,
in the case of this young man I hope and pray that he will
bring social/ political moderation to the peoples of Pakistan if
he is accepted as their future leader. It seems that he may be
a religious convert, a religion other than his ancestors. Let's
wait and see if that goes well with the majority in Pakistan.

Edward Q. Guerrero, San Antonio, USA / Texas

when you add up how many years the Bhutto clan have spent behind bars and what for, they come across more like the Corleoni family.
Musharraf should re-establish the Raj and control of India and then he should come to Britain, get rid of our corrupt politicians and put things in order here.

Keith Bentham, wigan, Lancashire

so the Bhutto/Zardari dynasty lays its continued claim to treat Pakistan as their own peronal bank account and fiefdom and Pakistan and all Pakistanis must suffer the same old same old as they have for the last 60 years...how Mohammed Ali Jinnah must be turning in his grave....God Bless Pakistan

Aziz, Birmingham, England

so the Bhutto/Zardari dynasty lays its continued claim to treat Pakistan as their own personal bank account and fiefdom and Pakistan and all Pakistanis must suffer the same old same old as they have for the last 60 years...how Mohammed Ali Jinnah must be turning in his grave....God Bless Pakistan

Aziz, Birmingham, England

The assasination of Ms. Benazir Bhutto was a cowardly act by whoever is responsible. Her statements before returning to Pakistan that promised to allow the presence of American troops and the questioning of Dr. Khan did not sit well with not only the militants but also ordinary Pakistanis. The future of Pakistan promises to be same as before. The reason for the pessimism is that political parties are tribal dynesties. where people are beholden to their lords. This is confirmed today with the passing of the PPP chairmanship to the family heir rather to one of the experienced party leaders.

A functioning demoracy requires compromises. The political leaders with their senstivities lack this art. Whenever there are disagrements among the party leaders, they create splinter groups. These revengeful acts distract energies from the affairs of the State. With so many parties, how can a man-on-the street can make an intelligent decision.

Maqbool Qurashi, Leesburg, Florida, USA

A 19 year old heading a political party of a country, the national language of which he doesn't understand...

How desperate the Zardaris are to get to power. It's pitiful actually.

PPP is not a democratic party where leaders are chosen based on wills.

Asad, Islamabad, Pakistan

It shows the true face of Bhutto family's shrill rants about wanting democracy. Leadership of a major political party has been turned into a dynastic farce. I hope the voters, and more importantly, the West wakes up to democracy and its practice in other parts of the world. The Generals, much as we instinctively dislike them, run the country much more competently and without dynastic ambitions.

Alex Smith, London,

Pakistan Peoples' Party has virtually handed over the success of forthcoming General election in their country to Mr.Pervez Musharraf by this ill-conceived and myopic decision today.
All dynasties are doomed to raise antibodies among the masses and perish in the end. Look at India,the largest democracy how it has shed the curse of self-seeking Gandhi dynaty.

Dr.Abdul Jaleel, Darlington, England

I thought Bhutto was bringing Democracy to Pakistan and that a democratic party chose its leader through omov!? Oligarchic government our islands went away long ago. it does seem odd that this UK government is supporting such an undemocratic way of doing things. But it did also illegally invade Iraq!

John Edgar, CUPAR, Fife, Scotland

With her "will" to have her teen aged son appointed as the future chairman of a "People´s Party " , the late Madam Bhutto has laid to rest all doubts regarding her true feelings to democracy. A democrat would have ordained free and fair elections to select the most able next chairman in the same tune as she had been demanding free and fair elections to the national and provincial assemblies ever since her return in october. Alas Madam hardly ever practised what she preached. Her sermons to wipe out the lawless terrorists stands in stark contrast to her being the head of state in 1996 who openly supported and installed these elements.
Her last words, as reported by one of her closest associates who happened to be in the vehicle with her at the time of her assasination were: " LONG LIVE BHUTTO". I guess that as Chairperson for life of a "People´s Party" this thought was uppermost in her mind. Democracy does have different meaning for different people.
May she rest in peace.

Z. Sultan, Bonn,

I,m afraid that Bhutto's young son hasn't such a charisma that can lead PPP.Unfortunately the (announced) death of these brave woman and charismatic figure, will be detrimental to the democratic development of Pakistan.

Luigi Curatola,Italy

Luigi Curatola, San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy

The arrogance of this family and their party is frankly sickening. An inexperienced 19 year-old and his Dad ex Mr 10 percent as co-chairmen! Risible, ludicrous, farcical. Good luck, Pakistan. You'll get what you deserve.

John, Paris,