Zardari Suffers Heart Attack, May Quit

Pakistan’s President Zardari in file photo taken August 2, 2010. Zardari had a minor heart attack and is undergoing treatment in a Dubai hospital, a source said Wednesday.           REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

Washington: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who abruptly left the Pakistan capital for Dubai, has suffered a minor heart attack and some in the US government believe he may even resign on account of ‘ill-health’, a media report said.

Zardari Tuesday evening left for Dubai to visit his children and also to undergo some medical tests, Pakistan’s official news agency Associated Press of Pakistan had reported.

Though the president’s personal physician Col Salman said the proposed medical tests are of routine nature and are linked to a previously diagnosed cardiovascular condition, the Foreign Policy magazine quoted a former US official as saying that parts of the US government were informed that Zardari had a ‘minor heart attack’ Monday night. He had flown to Dubai via an air ambulance.

Zardari may have to undergo an angioplasty procedure Wednesday and may also resign on account of ‘ill health’, the media report said.

The former US government official told the website that Zardari was ‘incoherent’ when President Barack Obama spoke with him regarding Nov 26 NATO’s killing of two dozen Pakistani soldiers.

Zardari had planned to address a joint session of Pakistan’s parliament on a controversy over a memo to Washington that claimed he feared a military coup after the May 2 commando operation to kill Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Zardari has been under tremendous pressure since the memo came to light.

‘The noose was getting tighter — it was only a matter of time,’ the former official was quoted as saying.

The ex-official noted the growing expectation inside the US government that Zardari may be on the way out, reported Foreign Policy.

In September, Zardari underwent an angiography at a hospital in Britain where doctors gave him a clean bill of health.

Two surgeons from the US too were involved in the medical check-ups along with the British doctors.

Shuja Nawaz, director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council, in a Tuesday interview said a plan would see Zardari step aside.

Nawaz said: ‘Unfortunately, it means that the military may have had to use its muscle to effect change yet again.’

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