Bilawal Bhutto calls for military action against Taliban

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto who was assassinated in 2007, has urged his country's army to take military action against the Taliban.

In an interview to BBC, Bilawal Bhutto, 25, said Pakistan had exhausted the option of talks with militants and that military action was now necessary.

"Dialogue is always an option but we have to have a position of strength. How do you talk from a position of strength? You have to beat them on the battlefield. They're fighting us," he said.

"It's not only confined to North Waziristan. They are attacking us in Karachi... We would like to eradicate the Taliban from Pakistan," he added.

Bilawal Bhutto, who is the patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), said he was considering standing in elections due in 2018.

The PPP chief, who is the son of Pakistan's former president Asif Ali Zardari, said he thought the assassination of his mother would "wake the country up".

Benazir Bhutto was assassinated at an election rally in Rawalpindi Dec 27, 2007, when Pervez Musharraf was the president of Pakistan. She was killed after addressing a rally in the city.

"I never saw myself as being in politics. Now I think it is time for me or there is the opportunity for me to start taking on more responsibility," he was quoted as saying.