Zardari in Dubai to celebrate birthday with grandson: Bilawal House

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party has rubbished speculations about a sudden visit of former President Asif Ali Zardari to Dubai and said he had gone there to celebrate his 67th birthday with his nine-month-old grandson.

“President Asif Ali Zardari wanted to celebrate his first birthday as a grandfather with his only grandson and will return soon,” Bilawal House spokesman Surendar Valasai said. He said the whole nation had witnessed that the former president endured hardships of unjustified imprisonment for 11 years, but did not leave the country. The elements, he maintained, who are afraid of former president Asif Ali Zardari and have a grudge against him resort to such rumour-mongering.

He said the former president would return soon and pointed out that Zardari was the name of an iron man, who faced the hardest situations and the worst political revenge with patience and smile. “Those who are gossiping and spreading rumours about the former president should behave,” he added.

Earlier, Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari had explained the reason for the visit of her father and said, “At the first birthday as a grandfather he’s here to spend it with his grandson because he could not fly due to a medical procedure last month.” In her Tweet, she said if he had not run away for 11 years of jail, why would he now? “He faced courts under every regime including our wannabe dictator Select but never ran away,” she added.