Bilawal Zardari is apparently his mother’s heir but he’s not sounding much like his mother’s son. Either that, or he doesn’t care overmuch for the martyr’s role his mother embraced so eagerly, and that he feels she has now pushed upon him. Or maybe his sense of filial piety just requires him to allow his father first crack at martyrdom, and Bilawal is more than willing to take his turn?

Political turmoil in Pakistan deepened on Sunday as Benazir Bhutto’s son Bilawal, a 19-year-old student at Oxford, was surprisingly chosen to succeed the slain opposition leader as chairman of Pakistan’s largest party.

But the teenager will initially be only a figurehead, with his controversial father, Asif Ali Zardari, set to lead the Pakistan People’s party as co-chairman into elections expected to be delayed beyond the planned date next month.
[...]
Bilawal addressed a press conference for less than a minute, saying he would leave the running of the party to his father while he finished his studies.

“The chairmanship of the party is a position often occupied by martyrs and we do not know how long my father will be able to keep this position,” he said. “When I return I promise to lead the party as my mother wanted me to.”

In related news, there are some branding issues when a political dynasty runs from father to daughter to son:

Mr Zardari Sr said that Bilawal, like his two younger sisters, would henceforth take his mother’s name, styling himself Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. A first-year history student, the teenager has lived outside Pakistan since 1999. He is to return to his studies and it is not clear when he will return to an active role in Pakistan.

This is designed to overcome a branding problem: up until now, Bhutto’s three children have used their father’s name.