LONDON, Jan 12: Benazir Bhutto's niece described as “dangerous” the idea that the Pakistan People's Party

(PPP) must be led by a member of the Bhutto family in an interview published on Saturday.

Fatima Bhutto, 25, is still seen by some in Pakistan as a potential heir to the family dynasty, although her cousin, Benazir Bhutto's son Bilawal, was named PPP chairman after his mother's assassination on December 27.

Fatima told the Times newspaper in London that she might be interested in a career in politics, although would not be “a symbol” for anyone, and denounced the PPP as “desperate to cash in on her (Benazir's) blood”.

“It's become in a sense the family business, like an antique shop where it's just 'So and So and Sons,' and then grandsons and great grandsons. It just gets handed down,” she said.

“The idea that it has to be a Bhutto, I think, is a dangerous one.

“It doesn't benefit Pakistan.

“It doesn't benefit a party that's supposed to be run on democratic lines and it doesn't benefit us as citizens if we think only about personalities and not about platforms.” At a London press conference earlier this week, Bilawal strongly denied a suggestion from a journalist that his role had been handed down to him “like some piece of family furniture”.“Ultimately, the party workers believe that nobody can head the party but a Bhutto, but I don't think the workers believe that on whomever you put the Bhutto name can lead,” Fatima told the Times.

“They seem to be a party in a hurry and they seem to be desperate to cash in on her blood.

“There was a certain coterie around her that benefited richly from her government and they plan, it seems, to benefit richly from her death as well.”

She called for Benazir Bhutto's will, which the PPP says gave Benazir's husband Asif Ali Zardari charge of the party, to be made public.

Asked about her own political ambitions, she said: “If there was an opportunity for new faces to come up and new voices to be heard and if I could be of service in some way, I wouldn't say no.

“But I'm not interested in being a symbol for anyone.”—AFP