Dubai: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was undergoing what his office said on Wednesday were routine medical tests in a Dubai hospital, but which fuelled rumours of his possible resignation.
Zardari's office said a news web report, which kicked off much of the speculation, was untrue. Financial markets were unaffected by the rumours.
"President Asif Ali Zardari is in a Dubai hospital for medical tests and checkup as planned," presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar told Reuters. "Reports in some sections of the media speculating on the president's activities and engagements are speculative, imaginary and untrue."
Twitter and other social media were awash in contradictory information. In one span of 20 minutes, micro-bloggers had placed Zardari in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia.
Some speculated the president would travel to the Britain, or return to Pakistan by the end of the week. Others suggested the president had suffered a "minor heart attack" and may resign.
Medical test in Dubai
Diplomatic sources in Dubai confirmed to Gulf News that the Pakistani president arrived in the emirate on Tuesday night for an emergency medical check-up.
They said that Zardari was flown in a Pakistan Air Force plane equipped with medical equipment, which landed at a hospital in Dubai at around 8:30pm.
Zardari walked down the stairs of the plane and entered the hospital on board a normal car, the sources revealed.
A spokesperson at the Pakistan Consulate in Dubai said: “President Zardari Tuesday evening reached Dubai to undergo some medical tests. He was accompanied with the president’s physicians and limited personal staff.”
Zardari's personal physician, Col. Salman, said that the medical tests are routine and are linked to a previously diagnosed cardiovascular condition. Sources told Gulf News that Zardari went for a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test.
With inputs from Deputy UAE Editor Ashfaq Ahmed and agencies
