London: Nineteen-year-old Bilawal, thrust into the political limelight unexpectedly as chairman of the Pakistan People's Party, is keen to get good grades in new year exams at Oxford.

Bilawal who is to resume his studies next week is expected to appeal to PPP activists to lower their expectations of him, The Sunday Telegraph reported today.

He was made the PPP chairman on Sunday last week, following his mother and former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto's assassination in Rawalpindi on December 27.

Bilawal's short-term concern is an imminent meeting with his Oxford college dean. Family friends who have spoken to him in the past week say that although he was named as chairman of the party, he has no wish to take control of it. "He believes the biggest challenge is... Dealing with his new role in the limelight and maintaining his life as an ordinary student," one told the newspaper.

Meanwhile, acquaintances at the university have revealed him to be a popular student. "He is your standard charismatic, funny, engaging student," said Luke Tryl, 20, a former president of the Oxford Union debating society.

Bilawal's postings on the social networking website Facebook suggest he enjoyed juggling "drinks with tutes (tutors)" wearing a hoodie to an Oxford nightclub, filth, with bob costumes buying".

Five days before Benazir was murdered, Bilawal revealed his hopes for 2008, while joking about his fears, the report said. "I'm still taking your advice about starting work after new year kicks off. If I am kicked out... I'll blame you. I won't be able to adjust after Oxford," he told a fellow undergraduate student.

Bilawal's enthusiasm for student life is also evident in photographs posted on the site, which recall the hectic social life enjoyed by his mother at Oxford in the 1970s. On holiday at his home in Dubai, where he spent much of his childhood, he tells one friend, "Ahh yes I could do Christmas for the presents but ... I hate shopping. There is also a possibility I could be tried for blasphemy somewhere. Hope you get drunk on new years eve".

Source : PTI