Lahore, Oct 9: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari’s flirting with Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin at the UN General Assembly session last month has become the talk of the town in Pakistan, with even rickshaw pullers being aware of the episode. It’s raising eyebrows from one and all, besides becoming the butt of jokes at the blogs and in text messages.

It’s being said that Zardari might marry Palin and if the latter dies, one more “will” would appear saying that Palin’s wish was that Zardari becomes the vice-president in the event of her death. And, eventually, Zardari becomes President of USA six months after Palin''s death.”

Facebook groups are busy advising the president on what steps to take next. “Zardari should marry Sarah Palin for the sake of “world peace and to stop the incursion of US forces in Pakistan,” said one post.

According to a report in the Washington Post, even the most ordinary Pakistanis know who Palin is, or at least what she looks like. “I don''t know her name or what she does, but I think Benazir Bhutto was more beautiful,” said Ahmed Zafar, a rickshaw driver in Lahore.

Bhutto, a former prime minister and Zardari’s wife, was assassinated in December. And, later, according to a will left behind by Benazir, Zardari was made the Co-chairman of the PPP and subsequently the party’s candidate for the post of President of Pakistan.

During his five-minute photo opportunity with Palin, Zardari had described her as “gorgeous” and even asked to “hug her”. He told her: “You are even more gorgeous in life” and that now he understood “why America is crazy about you”.

A fatwa by Abdul Ghafar of Islamabad''s Red Mosque declared Zardari''s behavior to be “un-Islamic” because it included “indecent gestures, filthy remarks and repeated praise of a non-Muslim woman in a short skirt”. Unlike many fatwas from radical clerics, it stopped short of calling for Zardari''s death.

Ghafar is a relative of Abdul Rashid Ghazi, leader of the Red Mosque who died during weeklong gunbattle in July between government forces and militants holed up in the landmark structure in Islamabad.

Pakistan''s feminists are equally outraged. “It''s completely unbecoming of a head of state to act in this manner. I don''t understand what he was trying to achieve and why he would behave in this manner,” said Rubina Saigol, a member of the Women Action Forum.

Muneeza Hashmi, a media critic and a strong proponent of women''s rights in Pakistan, was even more vocal in expressing her displeasure at the president''s conduct. “I felt ashamed and embarrassed," she said and added: “He was representing my country, and he was representing me when he went there and I felt like burying my head in the sand.” (ANI)