Islamabad, Apr 9 (IANS): Asif Ali Zardari "needs to understand that if he is to avoid ridicule on home ground, then 'private' is 'private'," said a daily after the president took along two dozen members of his family on a trip to India.

Taking a dig at the president's entourage, an editorial in the News International Monday said said Zardari "needs to understand that if he is to avoid ridicule on home ground, then 'private' is 'private' - and taking along 25 members of his own family, the chairman of the Pakistan People's Party, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani and his personal and security staff - all at public expense - does not constitute private".

"It does however constitute a misuse of public funds - a detail overlooked by day-tripping dynasts," it added.

Zardari met Manmohan Singh in New Delhi and paid obeisance at Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti's shrine in Ajmer during his day-long trip Sunday.