Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari’s five-day visit to Britain ended amid fresh controversy over a shoe-throwing incident at a PPP rally in Birmingham on Saturday, which was vehemently denied by Mr Zardari’s delegation.
British newspapers and Pakistan’s non-official media reported that a 57-year-old spectator had thrown his shoes while Mr Zardari was speaking at the rally. However, he failed to hit the President and was reportedly led away.
Coventry-based Sardar Mohammed Shamim Khan was quoted in the British media as saying that Mr Zardari’s speech angered him so much that he spontaneously decided to unlace his size 10 leather shoes and hurl them at the Pakistan President.
“I could feel the anger brewing up inside me as Zardari talked about floods in Pakistan,” the Mail on Sunday quoted him as saying. “He is a disgrace and I had to let my feelings be known in a way he would remember.”
Back in Pakistan, infuriated activists of Mr Zardari’s PPP erupted in riots, arson and rampage across the country over newspapers and TV stations reporting the incident. Newspapers with reports or pictures of the shoe-throwing were looted from hawkers on Sunday and cable operators forced to block independent TV channels beaming videos.