ISLAMABAD, Aug 29: Remarks about President Asif Ali Zardari by an anchor of state-run television at a ‘peace conference’ on Wednesday irked Interior Minister Abdul Rehman Malik, prompting him to announce that he would walk out if an apology was not tendered.

Anchorperson Khursheed Nadeem, while expressing his views at a national peace conference ‘Pakistan a welfare state: our responsibilities’, expressed his surprise over President Zardari’s invitation to South Korean entrepreneurs to invest in Pakistan at a time when local businessmen were averse to investment in the country. “Who understands the psychology of investors better than Zardari,” he remarked, making a large number of participants burst into laughter.

The remarks might be amusing for the participants including leaders of different faiths from all over the country, but they enraged Mr Malik who instantly protested.

“We are talking about peace and must not discuss politics here,” he added.

The annoyance shown by the minister forced the anchorperson to tender an apology. This time he said all the elected representatives were respectable and what he wanted to say was that investment without peace was not possible. “I feel sorry if my remarks have hurt someone’s feelings,” he said.