Zardari regrets calling Rao Anwar ‘brave child’

ISLAMABAD: Former president Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday regretted his remarks about absconding former SSP Malir Rao Anwar which evoked a strong reaction from the Mehsud Jirga.

In an interview with a private news channel on Friday, Zardari had called Anwar a "brave child" who survived the fight against the militant wing of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

"54 SHOs participated in the operation under General Naseerullah Babar out of which 53 were killed, only Anwar survived," said Zardari.

The former president said everybody should step back and look at Naqeebullah Mehsud murder case again.

In a statement, Zardari’s spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar said the former president regretted making remarks while talking to a private TV channel that sought to give the impression of supporting the absconding former SSP Malir Rao Anwar. Babar said Zardari had termed his words misspoken and regretted causing any offence to anyone.

Zardari also acknowledged that his words about Rao Anwar were indeed misspoken.

He also denounced extrajudicial killings as “abhorrent, criminal and unacceptable” and called for bringing to justice all those involved in it, the spokesperson said. “Enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings are twins of a deepening curse. It is unthinkable that the Pakistan People’s Party would support it in any form or manner,” Babar said.

The party’s record in and out of parliament testifies to it, he added. He said the former president had realised that his remarks made unwittingly in the flow of conversation might have caused anguish and regretted it.