'There was no shoe'

President's spokesman has categori­cally dismissed allegations of shoes being hurled towards President Zardari.

President's spokesman Farhatullah Babar has categorically dismissed allegations of shoes being hurled towards President Zardari during his speech to the Pakistani community in Birmingham hall on Saturday evening in Britain.

While talking to a private TV channel, he said that had any incident such as hurling of shoes occurred during the ceremony it would have been seen by the people sitting in the hall.

"I confirm through the media that no such incident occurred during the speech of President Asif Ali Zardari” he said. He stated that the media could have openly reported the matter if it had any proof about it.

When asked about the statement issued by Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira on the incident, Farhatullah Babar said the minister had already clarified it and that "he should not be misquoted".

He dispelled the impression that the meeting had ended due to disruption in the venue. "No, not at all, President had completed his speech of 45 minutes, which was vigorously hailed by the PPP workers sitting in the hall", he said.

The President's  spokesman also urged news channels to provide complete footage of  the official media coverage of the event in order to remove any misunderstanding.

The incident was reported to have taken place as President Zardari addressed a rally in Britain for his political party on Saturday, ending a visit he was criticised for making while millions struggled with devastating floods at home.

Protesters outside the rally shouted "Go Zardari, Go", while witnesses said that inside an old man tried to throw a shoe at the President before being hustled away by security guards.

The protesters -police put their number at about 100 - waved banners saying "Zardari, part-time president" and "Thousands dying, Zardari holidaying".

It was reported that the man who tried to throw a shoe - an insult which rose to prominence when an Iraqi did the same to former U.S. President George W. Bush -- was too far back in the conference hall to have any impact, and President Zardari did not interrupt his speech.

The President had come under fire at home for pressing ahead with his visit, as even before the floods, some Pakistani politicians had suggested he cancel the trip after Cameron said on a visit to Pakistan's arch-rival India that Islamabad must not "look both ways" when dealing with Islamist militants.

On Friday, President Zardari and British Prime Minister David Cameron held talks in which they agreed to do more together to fight Islamist militancy and brushed aside a diplomatic spat.