Zardari likely to return tonight

NAVEED BUTT

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari is likely to return to Pakistan late Thursday night.

Sources said some high-level scheduled meetings had necessitated his presence in Pakistan. According to sources, some high US officials are expected to visit Pakistan in next few days. Sources also told Business Recorder that senior US official Robin Raphel would be visiting Pakistan within the next few days. She is a career diplomat who is currently the coordinator for non-military assistance to Pakistan with the rank of ambassador. Raphel would meet senior officials during her stay in Islamabad/Rawalpindi. She is the senior-most official in Washington who is venturing up to Islamabad after Pakistan's taking tough position for 'fresh terms of engagements' between Washington and Islamabad.

According to a handout issued from the Presidency, according to the doctor treating President Asif Ali Zardari in the American Hospital, Dubai all investigations carried out are within normal range and it is planned to discharge the President on Thursday December 15 to rest at home as advised and to continue on his regular heart medication.

President spokesman Farhatullah Babar told Business Recorder that the President had been discharged from hospital and he had moved to his residence in Dubai.

However, he said that the President would travel to Pakistan on the advice of doctors.

President Asif Ali Zardari left for Dubai on December 6, 2011 for treatment with the chief complaint of numbness in the left arm and twitching with a transient episode of loss of consciousness that lasted for a few seconds.

President Spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said the physician, Dr Khaldoun Taha MD FACC, said this in a health bulletin issued on Wednesday.

According to health bulletin, Asif Ali Zardari has been admitted to American Hospital Dubai on Tuesday, 6 December 2011, with the chief complaint of left arm numbness and twitching with a transient episode of loss of consciousness that lasted for a few seconds, which was witnessed. Upon arrival at the hospital's Emergency Room, he was fully awake and conscious with stable vital signs.

Given his history of heart disease, cardiac and neurological investigations were carried out which included MRI of the brain, lumbar puncture, 2-D echocardiogram, carotid Doppler and complete blood test.

All investigations were within normal range and he was kept for observation for a few more days and is planned to be discharged on 15 December 2011 to rest at home as advised and to continue on his regular heart medication.

Well-placed sources in the Presidency told Business Recorder that before leaving for Dubai, the President was not treated at Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC). They said the President did not go to Dubai by special air ambulance.

Although under immense pressure, the President never gave any impression of tension, the sources said.