ISLAMABAD, April 23: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Sindh advocate general to submit details about the pending cases against Asif Ali Zardari in Sindh, and announced it would consider a request of the jailed PPP’s leader for shifting him to Karachi on May 5.
Asif Zardari in his application before the Supreme Court has stated that despite court orders, if his cases were not concluded in Rawalpindi within three months, he should be shifted to Karachi where civil as well as criminal cases were pending.
Abdul Hafeez Pirzada and Farooq H. Naek, counsel for Mr Zardari, argued before the three-member bench, led by Chief Justice Shaikh Riaz Ahmad, and stated that the apex court in its earlier judgment had directed the government to shift their client to Karachi after three month’s trial in Rawalpindi.
Mr Pirzada argued that four murder cases were pending against Asif Zardari in Sindh, and the client wanted to clear himself.
Asif Zardari is one of the accused in the murder of Mir Murtaza Bhutto, Amir Alam Baloch, Justice Nizam and Sajjad Hussain, chairman of the Pakistan Steels. The counsel said his client wanted to appear in those cases to clear himself.
The counsel stated that Asif Zardari was in detention for six years and five months, and if it was calculated in terms of remissions which were available under the jail manuals, this period would go beyond nine years.
He said there was no possibility of the completion of cases pending against Mr Zardari in Attock Accountability Court in near future, as the NAB had recently filed fourth supplementary reference with documents spanning over 18,000 pages.
There should be some code of ethics, and activities of the NAB should be checked, the senior counsel said and added that he was not arguing the case of habeas corpus, and was just demanding that Mr Zardari should be shifted to Karachi to allow him to appear in cases pending there.
He said he might argue before the court at some stage that there should be an end, and that for how long his client would remain in jail as an accused person. He said the life of an individual was being wasted for keeping him behind the bars without any legal justification.
Prosecutor General Accountability Naveed Rasool Mirza argued that delay in the decision of cases was not due to the NAB, but owing to delaying tactics applied by the petitioner himself.
He said that out of 70 adjournments, in the case pending before an accountability court at Attock, the petitioner sought 21 adjournments, and the bureau only made three such requests.
Chief Justice Shaikh Riaz Ahmad inquired from Advocate General (AG) Sindh Anwar Mansoor of how many cases were pending against Asif Zardari in the province. The chief law officer said he was not in position to make a statement at the moment, and he would have to check the record.
The chief justice asked the AG Sindh to submit a report containing all information about the number of pending cases against the petitioner and their status.
The court adjourned the case till May 5, when it would be taken up.
