September 22, 2008	Monday	Ramazan 21, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Sept 21: An inquiry has been ordered into what has been described as a mess-up during President Asif Ali Zardari’s address to the nation on PTV late Saturday night.

Before leaving for the US, the president asked the minister of information to undertake the inquiry and the ministry has constituted a team.

Meanwhile, PTV Chairman Dr Shahid Masood, who was to accompany the president to New York, was ordered to stay back until the completion of the inquiry.

Acting Secretary Information A.S. Abbasy said: “The committee will submit its report after the president’s return.”

Sources said President Zardari’s address to the nation was aimed at sharing the nation’s grief after the tragic blast which destroyed the Marriott Hotel. However, the address was mishandled and abruptly stopped putting the president in an embarrassing position.

After the president decided to address the nation, the information ministry directed the PTV authorities to make necessary arrangements.

The sources said when the PTV team reached the presidency, it was decided that the speech would be first recorded and telecast later.

After approving the draft, the president took a few minutes to rehearse the speech and PTV cameras were activated to monitor the rehearsal.

However, what was supposed to be a rehearsal was telecast live, also picked up by two private television networks.

“The PTV chairman had been clearly directed that the speech would be recorded and the president did not wish it to be a live broadcast but the PTV chairman organised a live telecast and the state media even provided clean feeds to two other TV channels,” said a source at the presidency.