New Delhi, Dec. 31: All of nineteen, the new heir Bilawal, sporting Armani glasses, quivering lips, Oxford accent intact.... one more sacrificial lamb from the Bhutto stables.

The new BB, christened barely three days after his stunningly beautiful mother was assassinated by a suicide squad, faced the media and adulating public.

He hesitatingly smiled when a slogan shouting supporters said: "Jannat-e-Hoor, Benazir Benazir". Then his (Bilawal's) lips quivered when they said " Kal Bhi Bhutto Zinda Tha, Aaj Bhi Bhutto Zinda Hai".

That slogan was coined when Bilawal's grandfather, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was hanged. It was a slogan that greeted his mother when she took to politics after her father's death, a slogan which today signifies his (Bilawal's) baptism into politics. But he couldn't hold back his tears when they chanted "Jeeve Bhutto, Jeeve Bhutto". Long live Bhutto. He had just buried a Bhutto. Those were his mother's last words before being hit by bullets and succumbing almost instantaneously. But like a phoenix, this family rises... against all odds.

Makhdom Amin Fahim will be the Prime Minister if the PPP wins the January 8th polls, but make no mistake the loyal regent will be merely a Bairam Khan to Akbar. The true scion of the modern-day Mughal dynasty is Bilawal. Jalal-ud-din Akbar was merely 13 when he became king. Bilawal is 19, but then, there is the Constitution and a sham of a democracy in the land now. And of course, there is the Army and President Musharraf to contend with. Will Bilawal be able to surmount this wall? His PPP supporters chanted "ek dhakka aur do, ye diwaar gira do". People in India shuddered when they heard the slogan on their television sets.

But yesterday at Bilawal's press conference, PPP supporters had come armed with the choicest of slogans. A poignant one was "Benazir ki tasveer... Bilawal Bilawal". Yet another one was "Bilawal tum aage bado, hum tumhare saath hain."

Bilawal will go back to Oxford to complete his studies. Hopefully, he will stand for elections to the student's union like his mother did, and one day return to Pakistan. His sisters and grandmother will live in Dubai. His father in Islamabad. Its not easy to be a Bhutto or a Zardari for that matter. And, he is both. (ANI)