President Asif Ali Zardari is to remain under medical observation in Dubai and it could be weeks before he returns home, an Emirati daily newspaper reported on Friday. "It can take two days or even more than two weeks, it all depends on what doctors advise him," Gulf News said, citing one of Zardari's close aides at the hospital.
"He may leave the hospital and rest in his house under observation of doctors, but we want him to stay here because he needs rest," the aide said. If he remains in office until his mandate ends, and polls are held, it would be the first democratic transition of power in Pakistan, where the military has staged four coups and ruled for more than half the country's existence.
"The president is stable, comfortable and is resting," the presidential palace said in a statement on Thursday. "Initial tests and investigations have been within normal range while further tests will be carried out," it read. One member of the cabinet told AFP that he had suffered a minor heart attack. There was no immediate confirmation from aides of local press reports that he had suffered a minor stroke.