Security scarce for Bhutto's son
Posted: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 12:48 PM
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London, England
By NBC News' Chapman Bell
Scores of members of the international press corps descended on a west London hotel on Tuesday for the political coming out of the new leader of the Pakistan’s People’s Party, 19-year-old Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of assassinated opposition figure and former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
But surprising as it may seem just weeks after his mother was killed by a gun and bomb attack Dec. 27 during a campaign stop, little obvious security surrounded Zardari, an Oxford student who now finds himself heir to a Pakistani political dynasty.
I was only assigned to cover the event in Kensington at the last minute. Our bureau was told not to worry about accreditation but rather just to show up at the site of the press conference and we could gain access.
We arrived at the hotel and immediately knew we were at the right place due to all the satellite trucks parked on the street.
We walked up to the door just 30 minutes before the beginning of the event and entered the venue at the same time as a couple of other journalists.
No questions were asked.
Full house crowd
I stayed on the stairs at a good level to take some digital photographs while our camerawoman fought her way to the front.
I have not seen that many cameras at a press conference in a very long time nor have I seen that many journalists in a room that small. Ever.
As the room filled up, claustrophobia began to set in. There could not have been room for one more person.
Zardari entered sat down at the table at the front. After issuing a few statements, he opened up to questions – some of which were quite barbed. Ultimately, Zardari pled for his privacy while he completed his studies in Britain and said that "at the moment" he intends to take over the party’s leadership mantel fully upon graduation.
Spice Girls get more security
But, throughout the press conference, I could not get the near-total absence of security out of my mind. It was the main topic of conversation among several other journalists as we broke up after the end of the session.
Here in this tiny room was the new chairman of the opposition Pakistan People’s Party, the son of the party’s recently assassinated former leader, his mother. And they are from a county – Pakistan – that the venerable newsweekly The Economist recently labeled "the world’s most dangerous place."
I was not searched once, nor did I see anyone else inspected. I have been to a fair number of these types of press conferences over the years, and nearly always have I been asked to present credentials.
But not today.
I even faced closer security checks when attending the Spice Girls reunion tour press conference a few months ago.
Although it is possible that there was some covert security in the hotel that journalists could not see, it all seemed very lax on the surface.
And it is not that I know of anyone seeking to harm this personable teenage college student.
But since some observers have said that Benazir Bhutto was assassinated as a result of insufficient security, one would think party officials would ensure tight security around her son, the new party leader.
If I were in that position, I would surely opt for a least a modicum of security.
