Benazir's daughter vows to continue mother's mission

(June 08, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Bakhtawar Bhutto, the eldest daughter of assassinated former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto, has vowed to continue her mother's mission to help people of her country, but has not yet decided about joining politics.

"I definitely want to help people in Pakistan. I want to continue my mom's mission in any way I can, whether it's politics or something else - I haven't decided yet," 17-year-old Bakhtawar said in a television interview.

According to a report in 'The Sunday Times', (London) Bakhtawar, who goes to school in Dubai, said: "I am proud to think people see me as a role model. I'm a very confident speaker and I hope all women can do what they want.

"I was given the opportunity. I was privileged, as you know. I was born into the family that I am in, where everything I could have was my right. Everything was equal between me and my brother and there was no discrimination between the sexes."

Her 19-year-old brother Bilawal, an Oxford undergraduate, was appointed co-chairman of the PPP along with Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari, within days of Bhutto's assassination and is widely seen as a future leader of the party.

Bakhtawar told a satellite news channel: "We have been brought up to equality and everything my brother was given, I was given. In education, we went to exactly the same schools, exactly the same teachers. Education for women is as important as for men because I believe we can all have the same jobs in life."
- Sri Lanka Guardian