Pakistani President Zardari ends UK trip with rally

Fav Tag: Geo436 Blog Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is ending his visit to the UK with a speech to supporters of his Pakistan Peoples Party in Birmingham.

Mr Zardari has rejected criticism that he should have stayed at home to lead relief work, as numbers hit by the floods reached some 14 million.

Meanwhile, his son Bilawal Zardari Bhutto has opened a donation point in London for Pakistan's flood victims.

Mr Bhutto denied the Birmingham rally was to launch his political career.

The son of the president and assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, Mr Bhutto cancelled an appearance at the Birmingham event, saying he would open the donation point at Pakistan's High Commission in the capital.

There had been claims that that he would make his first major political speech at the rally following his recent graduation from Oxford University.

Adult conversations
But in a short statement at the donation point, he said it had "never" been his intention to join his father in Birmingham and insisted that suggestions he was using his father's visit to launch his political career were "all lies".
"This is not the time to play politics. We need to do whatever is necessary to help our brothers and sisters in Pakistan," he added.

The 21-year-old is co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party with his father.

International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell defended Mr Zardari's visit which he said had served to highlight the disaster and help raise international relief funds.

"He is drumming up support internationally for the huge relief effort that is going to be required now in Pakistan and is going to be returning very soon. I think he is right to continue that visit."

During an interview with BBC Newsnight Mr Zardari also restated his commitment to fighting terrorism, following talks with UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
He said: "I don't think anybody doubts our intentions on this war."

But he refused to be drawn on whether he had tackled Mr Cameron over his recent comments about Pakistan promoting terror.

He said the two men had focused on the "positive" in their discussions.

"We engaged in conversation like two adults," said Mr Zardari.

The leaders issued a joint communique following their talks at Mr Cameron's country retreat Chequers, stressing their commitment to work more closely in future in the battle against terrorism, and in other areas such as education and trade.

On Friday Mr Cameron hailed the "unbreakable" friendship between Britain and Pakistan and said the two men had discussed how to "deepen and enhance" their strategic partnership.

Pain
He said their talks had focused on making sure "we deal with all the issues where we want to make progress, whether that is in trade, whether it's in education, and also in the absolutely vital area of combating terrorism".

Mr Zardari said that Pakistan and the UK had a "friendship that will never break, no matter what happens",
However, he told the Times Mr Cameron's comments had hurt him personally.

"Everybody is sensitive, as we have lost so many people, including my late wife (Benazir Bhutto), So to have your credentials questioned does hurt sometimes. No matter how brave you are, it hurts," he said.

Labour MP Khalid Mahmood accused Mr Zardari of not having "any empathy or sympathy" with what his people were going through as the country was left devastated by its worst monsoon floods in 80 years.

Asked in the Newsnight interview about such criticism, Mr Zardari said he was being kept up to date with the situation, but it was the responsibility of Pakistan's prime minister, who was the country's "chief executive".

He had also secured promises of flood relief from Abu Dhabi, France and the UK, which had pledged an extra £20m, while he had been out of the country, he added.

Habib Malik, from Islamic Relief, has been in Naushera, a city in the northwest of Pakistan that has been hit badly by the floods.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I have, personally, worked in many disasters in the last seven years - man made and natural - but this definitely is one of the worst I have experienced, mainly because this area was already poor."

The Disasters Emergency Committee said the British public had donated £2.5m for flood victims within hours of the TV appeal being broadcast on Thursday night.