Pakistan's Zardari appears in public for first time since illness

Dec 27, 2011, 13:10 GMT

Islamabad - Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari made his first public appearance Tuesday since a recent illness, following weeks of speculation about his political future.

Addressing a huge gathering on the fourth death anniversary of his murdered wife, former premier Benazir Bhutto, Zardari said he was fit to lead the country.

'Politics is the art of possible(s) ... but I believe that I am in-charges of the impossible(s),' he said in Garhi Khuda Baksh in Larkana district of southern province of Sindh, referring to the problems faced by Pakistan and his ability to steer it to safety.

Zardari was rushed to a hospital in Dubai earlier this month, returned after two weeks to resume responsibilities but he kept away from the public glare, which further fuelled rumours about his health.

In his speech punctuated with traditional slogans about his Pakistan People's Party, Zardari also lashed out at the judiciary for allegedly prioritising action in anti-government petitions but being slow in the prosecution filed by the government over Bhutto's murder, which is pending in a lower court.

'I want to ask (chief) Judge Iftikhar Chaudhry what has happened with the case of BB (Benazir Bhutto),' he said.

Bhutto was murdered in garrison city of Rawalpindi near Islamabad in 2007 as she was leaving a park after addressing an election rally. The investigations has moved at a slow pace and no one has been convicted so far.

Her widower, Zardari, became president when her party - riding on a wave of sympathy - won the election following the assassination, but has faced criticism for a failure to pull the country out of a descent into unrest and a faltering economy.