Bilawal Bhutto fails to appear for law exams in UK

Islamabad: Pakistan People's Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has been studying at a top London law college but has been unable to appear for examinations due to his hectic schedule and an inability to focus on demanding

subjects, according to a media report today.

The 23-year-old nominal chief of Pakistan's ruling party took admission in BPP University College, a prestigious private institute, in January last year after obtaining a degree from Oxford University.

Bilawal is currently a student of the Graduate Diploma in Law course, which is normally finished in nine months by full time students. The GDL is a law conversion course where graduates study all core subjects of an LLB(Honours).

Bilawal has already paid fees for two terms but missed exams last year and this year due to political commitments, The News daily quoted a source as saying.

An unnamed classmate of Bilawal told the daily: "Bilawal has been studying for his conversion course. He has not been a regular student but it s understood he received many private tutorials."

Bilawal does not mix with other students when he attends classes, the classmate said.

Bilawal has always been accompanied by undercover detectives to the college located near Waterloo. He earlier studied politics and history at Oxford University, the same institution where his grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, mother Benazir and uncle Murtaza also studied.

Bilawal followed Oxford University rules and stayed away from politics.

Soon after his graduation in 2010, he went to Pakistan for a few months and then applied for admission to the BPP.

This was kept secret by BPP and people around Bilawal in Pakistan and Britain.

A source at BPP explained that Bilawal must soon sit for his examinations as a student cannot indefinitely defer his or her tests without good reason.

In a sign of Bilawal's growing role in Pakistani politics, he recently did several high profile interviews with American media.

At the time these interviews were being broadcast in the US, BPP was holding tests but Bilawal could not appear for them.

The daily quoted a source as saying that Bilawal, currently in London, will hold a meeting with the BPP’s administration to clarify whether he would continue his

studies or drop out completely.

Bilawal, who turns 24 this September, can contest parliamentary elections in Pakistan only in 2013.