Bilawal Bhutto 'secretly' studying law in Britain

Islamabad - Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has been "studying secretly" at a top London law college and is always "accompanied by undercover detectives" to the institute, but has been unable to appear in his exams due to his hectic political schedule, a Pakistani daily has found.

According to The News International, the 24-year-old son of late Benazir Bhutto and President Asif Ali Zardari took admission at the BPP University College, a private university, in January 2011 after finishing his degree course from Oxford University in September 2010.

Bilawal is still a student of the Graduate Diploma in Law, although the course is normally finished in nine months by full-time students.

It is a law conversion course where graduates study all core subjects of an LLB degree. The tuition fee for the course is around 10,000 pounds per term.

A source told the daily Bilawal has already paid fees for two terms but missed exams last year as well as this year due to his political commitments.

"Bilawal has been studying for his conversion course. He has not been a regular student but it's understood he received many private tutorials," said a classmate of Bilawal.

He also said Bilawal did not mix with other students when he attended the classes.

The PPP chief has always been "accompanied by undercover detectives" to the college premises near Waterloo, another source told the Pakistani daily.

Bilawal studied politics and history at Oxford University, the same alma mater where his grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, mother and uncle Murtaza Bhutto 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 in BPP.

But this has been kept a secret by the college as well as people around Bilawal in Pakistan and in Britain.

A college official said Bilawal must soon sit for the exams because a student cannot indefinitely defer his or her examinations "without a good reason".

The official said Bilawal, currently in London, is expected to meet the BPP administration to finally make his plans clear whether he would continue his studies or drop out completely.

Bilawal, who turns 24 in September, needs another year to attain the minimum age of 25 to stand in the election to become a member of parliament in Pakistan.