Bilawal Bhutto confident of leading Pakistan

Islamabad, Jan 3: Bilawal Bhutto, son of assassinated former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto, admitted that he was not a born leader but said he was determined to fulfil his duties regardless of the ''critical danger'' to his life.

In a web posting on his page on social networking site Facebook, the 19-year-old Oxford student said, ''I am not a born leader. I am not a politician or a great thinker. My time to lead will come.'' Replying to hundreds of messages of condolences, the newly-appointed chief of Benazir's Pakistan People's Party said, ''For now, I'm the one asking questions, not the one answering them.'' He said he was still just a student who enjoyed eating junk food and watching television, but added that he would try to learn.

On queries about his elevation to the top post of Pakistan's largest political party, the Bhutto scion said : ''People have questioned why I talk about the virtue of democracy whilst coming into power through such undemocratic means.

''I can say this much in response: these are the right questions to be asking. These questions are what the foundations of democracy and a free society are built on. The important thing is not to stop questioning.'' Bilawal spent much of his life outside Pakistan, attending schools in London and Dubai. He enrolled at Christ Church, Oxford, last year.

Bilawal went on to thank the people for their messages of support, describing them as his ''brothers and sisters,'' and paying tribute to the other people who died in the gun and suicide bomb attack on December 27, 2007.

UNI