Feudal Fire: 'You can't become a Bhutto overnight'

LONDON: The tragedy-prone Bhutto family has resumed the bitter feuding with Mumtaz Bhutto, Benazir's uncle, disputing the appointment of Bilawal as head of the PPP, asserting: "You can't just add a name. You can't become a Bhutto overnight."

According to media reports, 74-year-old Mumtaz also denounced Asif Ali Zardari, Benazir's widower and the new co-chairman of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), as an opportunist and said that he doubted the authenticity of the 'will' that Bilwal, the 19-year-old son of the former leader, read out at the family home on Sunday.

"You can't just add a name. You can't become a Bhutto overnight," Mumtaz told The Times at the original Bhutto family home, 3 km from the mausoleum where Benazir was buried alongside her father and two brothers on Friday. "It's very suspect", he said. "Suddenly a will has come into existence that nobody has seen before."

Mumtaz — first cousin of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Benazir's father — said that the name change violated tribal norms and that Bilawal had no right to lead the party as he was not a Bhutto. Mumtaz, leader of the 700,000-strong Bhutto tribe, said the leadership should have passed to Sanam Bhutto, Benazir's younger sister, who is based in London, or to one of the two children of Ghinwa Bhutto, the widow of Murtaza, Benazir's brother.