LAHORE, June 21: The District and Sessions Judge of Lahore on Saturday adjourned for July 1 the proceedings of a drug trafficking case against Asif Zardari without recording any progress.

The prosecution and the defence sought adjournment because the court timings had lapsed. Mr Zardari’s application for deleting the testimony of a prosecution witness from the judicial record would be argued on next hearing.

PPP workers and Mr Zardari cut a cake to celebrate the 50th birthday of Benazir Bhutto at the Kot Lakhpat Jail after the conclusion of court proceedings.

Last year, prosecution witness Mushtaq Prince had deposed that he had been a partner of Mr Zardari in drug trafficking for three years and they earned US $30 million.

According to Mushtaq Prince, he had been introduced to Mr Zardari in 1981 by Fauzi Ali Kazmi at the residence of the then Sindh information secretary Ahmad Masood. Mr Kazmi was a close friend of Mr Zardari and had been declared proclaimed offender in the case.

Mr Prince alleged that few days after the meeting, Mr Kazmi invited him to his residence where Mr Zardari was also present. Mr Zardari was involved in sugar trade in those days.

Mr Kazmi allegedly suggested Mr Prince to invest all his money into Mr Zardari’s sugar business. After long negotiations, Mr Prince and Mr Kazmi decided to formally enter into a partnership with Mr Zardari for drug trafficking.

Consignments of hash and heroin were sent to Netherlands and other countries. The partnership which lasted from 1981 to 1984 yielded US $30 million.

According to Mr Prince, the share of each partner stood at US $7.5 million.

Later, Mushtaq Prince was arrested in 1985 during the regime of Gen Ziaul Haq and he lost contact with Mr Zardari till 1986. Mr Prince asked Mr Zardari to give him his share but the latter did not. The witness was arrested by the American government on drug trafficking charges and he was released in 2000.

Mr Zardari had stated in an application that the testimony of Mushtaq Prince was not admissible as he was not cited as a witness in the list of prosecution witnesses.

The testimony was totally fabricated and irrelevant to the current case so the court should delete it from the judicial record.

In this case, Mr Zardari has been accused of having patronized co-accused Arif Baloch and Shohrang Khan for drug trafficking. Arif Baloch had been sentenced to death by the anti-narcotics court in 2001.