THE gentle reprimand to the visiting President of Pakistan in your Comment column (Echo, Aug 4) symbolises the tolerance of the intolerable which is embedded in the British psyche.

Napoleon remarked that a leader is a dealer in hope. In abandoning his people during a major national disaster, President Asif Ali Zardari demonstrates a total lack of compassion and responsibility.

Mr Zardari’s jaunt to Paris and London betrays a degree of insensitivity beyond belief. His arrival at the Elysee Palace with his entourage, including his son and daughter, followed by careless remarks (published in Le Monde) about the failure of the Nato Coalition Forces’ mission in Afghanistan could only be described as irresponsible, if not offensive.

Those who have boycotted the President’s reception in London this week should be applauded for their courage. All right-thinking people should continue to express their contempt for this globetrotting leader through the media.

Go home, Mr Zardari, your nation needs you.

Dr Abdul Jaleel, Darlington.