Why did Bilawal call Zardari minutes after his interview went on air?

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari called his father, party's co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, soon after his interview went on air on Geo News, Hamid Mir, the journalist who interviewed the ex-president, said Friday.

The explosive interview — which has made headlines for a day now — was aired on Thursday, in which Zardari spoke at length about several issues, but the most notable was his statement about his son.

Zardari said that Bilawal is “inexperienced”, “not fully trained” in politics, and would “take time” getting up to speed — fuelling rumours of rifts between them — as the former foreign minister had been asking "old-aged politicians" to rest and allow the new generation to take the lead.

Talking to Geo News’ Shahzeb Khanzada today, Mir said that although there was a “situation”, the party would resolve it and that soon after the interview, Bilawal called Zardari to explain his narrative.

“Now, after giving the interview, when he sat in his room, Bilawal called him in front of me. Bilawal tried explaining it to him — and just like a father would talk to his son — Zardari told Bilawal that you don’t need to explain yourself to me,” Mir added.

The senior journalist said that Zardari told his son the questions were very tough and he needed to answer them. “So Bilawal tried to explain that his narrative wasn’t targeting him and that he was talking about the politics that’s been going on for the past 70 years.”

Zardari, according to Mir, responded that yes, “but you don’t need to clarify yourself”.

Bilawal then told Zardari that he would not be able to watch his interview completely because he was boarding a plane to Dubai, Mir said, adding that the ex-FM said he would watch the complete interview later.

“I asked Zardari why was Bilawal leaving for Dubai. He told me that Sanam Bhutto was coming to Dubai and that he would also leave for Dubai. He said that it was a family gathering and it was pre-planned. Zardari and Bilawal are set to come back.

“Several PPP old-aged leaders, I got to know, also asked Bilawal whether he wanted them to leave. But Bilawal told them that he did not want them to leave. He told them that he wasn’t talking about them.”

Mir, however, also said that there is no doubt that several questions have been raised after this interview. “But because I’ve known Zardari for years, his actual message wasn’t about Bilawal. But since he’s his son, it became the headlines.”

Are there rifts?

Khanzada asked Mir if there were rifts between the father-son duo as at a point where Bilawal is presenting himself as the prime minister, his father is saying that he doesn’t have enough experience.

In response, Mir said: “See, you have asked a question to a journalist who has seen a similar situation between Benazir Bhutto and Nusrat Bhutto (her mother); then I saw this between Benazir and Mir Murtaza Bhutto (her brother), and now I’m seeing the same between Bilawal and Zardari.”

He added that the issue between Nusrat, who was the chairperson, and Benazir, who was the co-chairperson, was resolved by the party. Mir went on to say that the issue between Benazir and Murtaza was also resolved.

So, in the PPP, he said, there’s a culture in which leaders don’t speak in secrecy, but out in the open.

Mir said Zardari could’ve diverted his question, but he didn’t.

“I asked him that I didn’t even ask you the question, but you said it yourself that Bilawal is untrained. You know that I didn’t agree with him and I told him that I believe that Bilawal is trained and talented.”

But Zardari said that it’s your [Mir’s] opinion and that he also sees him through the lens of a father.

PPP-PPPP conundrum and ‘actual message’

Mir went on to add that when he was in Zardari’s room, they weren’t alone as several other party leaders were also present as they had a meeting later on.

“The interview was recorded between 5pm-7pm and aired from 7pm-9pm. So over there, PPP Secretary General Nayyar Bukhari was present. Sherry Rehman was also in attendance.”

Mir said he asked Bukhari if he’s PPP’s secretary general and Bilawal is his party’s chairman, then what of the PPP.

So Bukhari him that during ex-president Pervez Musharraf’s era, a ban was placed on PPP, so they formed the PPPP. “We didn’t abolish the PPPP in case of a conspiracy against our party.”

Bukhari explained to Mir that whenever there are elections, the PPP and PPPP are in alliance, they use the PPPP’s election symbol, and they will use the same symbol in these elections as well.

“So he said there’s no secret about it within the party and he started defending Zardari’s stance.”

Mir said he told Bukhari that people in the media and other political parties can twist [the bits of the interview]. So Bukhari told Mir, “Okay, you can focus on what has been said about Bilawal. But what we have noticed is that Zardari has said that Nawaz Sharif won’t be the prime minister.”

Mir told Khanzada that “obviously”, Zardari did not say such a thing [clearly].

“So I thought that maybe Zardari might have been trying to send this message, but the focus shifted towards his statements about Bilawal.

“But I think Zardari’s actual objective was that there will be a national unity government and the claims that PML-N leaders are making that they will secure a simple majority will not be the case. And even if they want to make someone the prime minister, they will need the PPP. And this is the message that he wanted to give and was trying to.”