London:
The son of the Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has opened a London donation point for victims of the Pakistan's deadly floods amid criticism that his father is in Britain when he should be dealing with one of worst disasters in Pakistan in decades.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari - the 21-year-old son of President Asif Ali Zardari and slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto - accepted donations Saturday at the High Commission and defended his father's trip to Britain, saying he had done more in Europe to raise money for flood victims than he could have done in Pakistan.
Zardari, who did not join his son at the event in London, was expected to face both supporters and protesters at a political rally of his Pakistan People's Party in Birmingham later in the day, after which he will travel to Syria.
Many had expected Bilawal son to join his father at the rally and use the occasion to launch his political career, but the 21-year-old angrily rejected such speculation. Instead, he only appeared before the media briefly at Pakistan's High Commission in London, where he accepted donations for flood victims and defended his father's trip abroad during the disaster.
"My father's doing all that he can to aid the people of Pakistan. His personal presence in Pakistan could not have done there what he did here," Bilawal said.
Pakistani officials estimate that as many as 13 million people have been affected in the floods and some 1,500 have died. More rain is expected in the coming days as the bloated Kabul River surged into Pakistan's northwest.
"This is not a time to play politics. We need to do what is necessary to help our brothers and sisters in Pakistan," Bilawal added.
Although his father had said on Friday that it was only a matter of time before his son carried on the family's political dynasty, Bilawal became irritated at reporters' suggestions that he was using his father's visit for his political gain and said he never intended to join the rally.
"I will not launch my political career until I complete my education - as I promised my mother," he said. His mother Benazir Bhutto was assassinated at a political rally in late 2007. Her father, the founder of PPP, was hanged in 1979.
Bilawal said he would focus on raising money for flood victims in Britain and had no plans to travel to Pakistan soon. Still, many party supporters at the rally Saturday were more interested in talking about the young Oxford graduate than about his father.