NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD: Has Pakistan got its first lady in US-based Dr Tanveer Zamani? While Islamabad has strenuously denied the reports, Zamani`s open-ended reply to questions on her purported secret wedding with President Asif Ali Zardari in Dubai last week has fuelled rumours about wedlock.

Reports said Benazir Bhutto`s 55-year-old widower and the American woman courted for eight months before exchanging vows. They added that the couple would make their relationship public at the end of Zardari`s presidential term in 2013. Zardari`s 22-year-old son, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who is co-chairman of the ruling Pakistan People Party, would take over as its supreme leader after that.

"Personal matters are a very low priority. We have to handle the Egypt situation, the prices situation (in Pakistan), introduce Bilawal as the PPP leader, and many other issues," Zamani told Pakistani newspaper The News. Asked to confirm or deny the rumours, she said, "No comments."

PPP condemned the reports as internet rumour. Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said, "The PPP deplores the vicious and unethical tirade on the net against PPP co-chairman President Asif Ali Zardari insinuating that he has re-married secretly. Such personal attacks from anonymous sources can only be launched by those suffering from diseased minds. It shows how low the detractors of President Zardari can stoop."

Websites decribe Zamani, a practising physician, as "a Mediterranean descent American resident" who lives in Gramercy Park, Manhattan, New York. The posts claim she earned a PhD in international politics from Britain and owns estates in London, Dubai, Islamabad and Manhattan. They further claim Zamani is prohibited from attending "public political meetings due to security issues".

The News correspondent in Washington had spoken to Zamani, who refused comment when she was asked, "Are you Mrs Zardari?" The newspaper reported that Zamani is a Democratic Party member in the US and had campaigned for Barack Obama in 2008.

Analysts say it would be politically suicidal for Zardari to make his marriage public. After all, he became president thanks to a sympathy wave after his wife Benazir Bhutto was assassinated.

Read more: Zardari married to US-basaed doc? - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Zardari-married-to-US-basaed-doc-/articleshow/7428575.cms#ixzz1D1XFeO4L

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