President Asif Ali Zardari has asked senior Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Aitzaz Ahsan to act as a mentor to his son, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, if “anything were to happen to him”, sources said, amid reports that the outspoken PPP leader was being tipped as a likely replacement for Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. Zardari had reached out to Ahsan, one of Pakistan’s leading lawyers and a former interior minister, after he became embroiled in the memo controversy.
During a long phone conversation with Ahsan while he was in Dubai for medical treatment, Zardari had asked the Cambridge-educated lawyer to act as a mentor to his 23-year-old son Bilawal if “anything were to happen to him,” senior PPP officials and other sources said. Zardari’s decision to ask Ahsan to speak after him at a massive rally to mark the 4th death anniversary of former premier Benazir Bhutto on Tuesday too has triggered speculation that Ahsan may be given a key position in the government. The president was expected to be the main speaker at the public gathering, but Zardari took everyone by surprise by effusively praising Ahsan and asking him to deliver the final speech.
Zardari asks Aitzaz to mentor Bilawal
