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| April 20, 2003 | Sunday | Safar 17, 1424 |
PPP demands Asif’s release
ISLAMABAD, April 19: The Pakistan People’s Party on Saturday demanded immediate release of former senator Asif Ali Zardari or his shifting to Karachi for facing trial in various criminal cases pending against him.
In a statement, PPP spokesman Farhatullah Baber also demanded withdrawal of narcotics case against Mr Zardari in Lahore and said the filing of cases against him should be stopped.
He said Mr Zardari was arrested on Nov 4, 1996. “He is kept in solitary confinement at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, or at Kot Lakhpat prison, when he is taken to Lahore. He is in poor health.”
The spokesman said there were seven accountability references pending against Mr Zardari at Rawalpindi and Attock Fort, a military garrison, since 1998 and six criminal cases were pending against him in Karachi since 1996.
He said the PPP leader was being denied a trial by the ordinary courts.
He alleged that a former chairman of Pakistan Steel Mills, Sajjad Hussain, was involved in corruption cases, incarcerated for a long period, and forced to record statement against Mr Zardari.
Shorang Khan, 80, was involved in a narcotics case as he refused to record statement involving Mr Zardari, he alleged.
Inspector Ashiq Marth was demoted and removed from service as he refused to fabricate evidence against Mr Zardari, the spokesman alleged and said the official was reinstated on the orders of the Lahore High Court.
He said Mr Zardari was involved in a narcotics case on the purported statement of co-accused Arif Baloch. The case was pending despite Mr Baloch disowning the statement before the court, he said.
He alleged that the accountability law was changed seven times retrospectively to tailor it to meet the requirements of the National Accountability Bureau investigators in their pursuit of Mr Zardari and PPP members.
He alleged that the judge in the Begum Bhutto case was promoted retrospectively for 13 years and “special pay packages” were given to the judges of the special accountability courts. The packages were stopped later but the benefits given up to that time were not reimbursed, he said.
He said the law provided for the release of a person after two years if his case remained undecided but the benefit was denied to the former senator and there was no equivalent case of a person being held this long.
The spokesman said Mr Zardari was bailed out or freed by courts in 20 instances but more cases were made to keep him behind bars.
He said the regime had released on humanitarian grounds, a nephew of the prime minister, Faiq Jamali, who was sentenced to 38 years in prison.
He said Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad was facing heinous charges but those were withdrawn.
He said seven references had been filed against Mr Zardari of which four were being proceeded and three were adjourned sine die by the accountability courts.
He alleged that the regime wished to keep Mr Zardari in jail as a political hostage to pressure his wife, PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto, out of politics.
He alleged that the regime was delaying hearing of cases in Karachi, including four murder cases, by confining Mr Zardari in Rawalpindi and refusing to produce him despite orders by the courts.
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