Shoes hurled at Zardari during Birmingham rally, Pak Govt. denies incident

Lahore, Aug. 8 (ANI): An unidentified middle-aged man reportedly hurled shoes at Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari during the Birmingham rally, however, the president was not hit.

According to a private television channel, the man hurled his pair of shoes one after another at Zardari while he arrived to address a Pakistan People's Party (PPP) rally at the International Convention Centre.

The shoes missed Zardari and landed close to him.

The shoe-thrower, who has not been identified so far, was arrested and rushed outside the hall by security personnel, but was released later, The Daily Times reported the channel, as saying.

However, Information and Broadcasting Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira has denied any such incident taking place during the rally, and reprimanded the media for airing such a report.

"If someone tried to create disturbance while sitting in back of the hall, it was not visible and the news should be condemned rather than airing it as 'breaking news' or portraying it as 'big news'," Kaira said.

Kaira said that no television cameras were allowed inside the convention centre for security reasons. (ANI)