Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari subject of fatwa over Sarah Palin talk

Thursday, October 2nd 2008, 7:05 PM

Flirting with Sarah has its risks.

A radical Islamic cleric in Islamabad has issued a fatwa - a religious opinion or edict - against Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari for his awkward come-ons to Republican veep choice Sarah Palin while in New York last week.

Zardari, in town for the UN General Assembly, told Palin she was "gorgeous" and said, "Now I know why the whole of America is crazy about you."

But what really got Zardari into trouble - with both clerical and female leaders in Pakistan - was when an aide asked the diplomatic duo to keep shaking hands and Zardari quipped to Palin, "If he insists, I might hug you."

Maulana Abdul Ghafar of the Lal Masjid mosque said that Zardari had shamed all of Pakistan with his indecent remarks, adding that his "praise of a non-Muslim lady wearing a short skirt" was un-Islamic.

Palin wore a knee-length gray skirt and a dark jacket.

Female leaders added that the comments by Zardari - whose wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated last year - was unbecoming of a recent widower.

"He was looking upon her merely as a woman and not as a politician in her own right," fumed Tahira Abdullah, a member of the Women's Action Forum.

Though fatwas can range from advice on daily life to death sentences, this one does not call for any action or violence, officials added.

But some bloggers were nervous enough about the diplomatic contretemps to start a Web site on Facebook - dubbed "Zardari should marry Sarah Palin for the sake of world peace!" - aimed at keeping the nations at peace and paving the way for polo games at the White House.

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