KARACHI, Oct 8: The additional district and sessions judge, South, Farooq Ali Channa, granted on Monday pre-arrest bail to Asif Ali Zardari, spouse of former premier Benazir Bhutto, in the murder case of a former chief of the Pakistan Steel.
Sajjad Hussain, former PSM chairman, was murdered on Sept 12, 1998, in an ambush within the limits of the Defence police.
The judge gave Mr. Zardari the bail before arrest in the sum of Rs100,000 in the case, registered initially against the unknown assailants.
The counsel for the husband of the former prime minister submitted before the court that the police under the supervision of DIG Crime, Saleem Akhtar Siddiqui, had “malafidely and unlawfully” implicated his client.
The defence counsel submitted that the police had earlier arrested Ismail Daihri in the case. However, the court ordered his release on bail on Nov 17, 1998.
He stated that the police also wanted to arrest Munawwar Soharwardi, information secretary of PPP Sindh, and Abu Bakar Zardari, one of the defence counsel for Asif Zardari, in the case. “But both of them were granted bail by the court”.
The defence counsel argued that the police had failed to submit the charge-sheet in the matter “in complete violation to the provision of Section 713, Criminal Procedure Code”.
He also referred to the filing of a constitutional petition (No. 2000 of 2001) before the Sindh High Court filed by the wife of Muhammed Khan Chachar, who alleged that her husband was being tortured by the police to implicate Asif Zardari in the case.
The defence counsel said Mr Zardari, who has been in jail since Nov 5, 1996, was earlier implicated in the Justice Nizam Ahmed murder case on the alleged confession of accused Akhtar Jawaid Pirzada. However, he stated, Mr Zardari and other accused in the case were given bail by the concerned court.
He also submitted that despite having been granted bail before arrest in the Nizam murder case, the police “malafidely, illegally and unlawfully” obtained physical remand of Mr Zardari, who was allegedly tortured and injured in the police custody.
He said the police claimed that the injuries sustained by the accused were self-inflicted.
“The remand obtained by the police was declared to be unlawful by the Sindh High Court and the inquiry tribunal, appointed by the provincial government, held that the injuries were not self-inflicted”.
The defence counsel said Mr Zardari was no way connected with the murder of Sajjad Hussain as he was confined to the prison at the time of incident.
He argued that the life and liberty of the applicant was being jeopardised and the state agencies were moving him from place to place under the garb of investigation, though he was certified as sick person needing hospitalisation and operative treatment.
The defence counsel submitted that Asif Zardari had been granted bail in almost all cases on medical grounds.
