Aitzaz says NYT misquoted him saying cases against Zardari were justified

Lahore, June 3 : Senior PPP leader and president of the Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association, Aitzaz Ahsan has said that the New York Times had misquoted him saying that the corruption cases against PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari were justified.

He has reportedly sent a legal notice to the US-based paper and also asked it to publish a clarification in this regard.

Addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club last evening, Ahsan said he had asked the newspaper through a legal notice for the reason for writing that he had stated that the charges against Zardari and Benazir Bhutto were justified.

Ahsan said he had only talked about the cases against Ms Bhutto and Zardari to a reporter of the newspaper, reported the Dawn.

"I never said the cases against the PPP leader were justified," Ahsan said and added that he had only talked about the cases in which he had represented Zardari before a court that granted him bail.

Aitzaz is having a hot and cold relationship with Zardari ever since he spearheaded the lawyers' agitation in Pakistan demanding restoration of judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf on Nov 3, 2007. On more than one occasion, Musharraf has expressed his unhappiness at the lawyers' movement.

ANI