KARACHI, July 5: Asif Ali Zardari, interned husband of former premier Benazir Bhutto, was produced on Saturday in the district and sessions court (East), trying him in the Mir Murtaza Bhutto murder case.

Mr Zardari, who was last produced in the court two years ago, was brought here from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, on Friday night after a series of production orders and show-cause notices issued to the authorities of Sindh and Punjab by different courts.

Judge Sain Allah Dino Matilo ordered the chief of the Central Prison to lodge Mr Zardari, being represented by Shahadat Awan, in Karachi to ensure the hearing of the Mir Murtaza Bhutto murder case, which has not proceeded since the statement of the 17th out of a total of 223 prosecution witnesses.

The ailing husband of the former prime minister, who was brought to the Central Prison around 11:30am in an armoured personnel carrier, has been lodged at the Clifton campus of the Ziauddin Memorial Hospital.

Wearing a safari suit and with unruffled smile on his face, the interned spouse of the former prime minister twiddle with his moustaches and waved a hand as his party leaders and supporters showered rose petals on him when he got out of the APC.

Judge Matilo fixed Monday for the next hearing of the Mir murder case and ordered the jail authorities to produce Mr Zardari in the court.

Earlier on June 23 the judge had issued a show-cause notice to the home secretary of Sindh for not producing Asif Ali Zardari in court for the hearing of the Mir Murtaza Bhutto murder case.

The case was transferred to the district and sessions judge, East, in August last year after Judge Yasmin Abbasi of the Small Cause Court had refused to try the case some six months before its transfer due to the ‘non-cooperation of the prosecution and defence lawyers’.

Mir Murtaza Bhutto, son of the late prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the younger brother of the then prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was killed with six others, including his close aide, Ashiq Jatoi, in September 1996 some 100 meters from his resident in Clifton by a heavy contingent of police during an alleged shootout.

The judge had issued a show-cause notice after the provincial home secretary had informed the court through a letter that Mr Zardari had been in the custody of the jail authorities in Punjab, where he was facing trial in different cases.

Asif Ali Zardari, former Karachi DIG Shoaib Suddle, SSP (South) Wajid Durrani, IB chief Masood Sharif, Saddar SP Shahid Hayat, Darakhshan ASP Rai Mohammed Tahir, Garden SHO Shabbir Ahmed Qaimkhani, Napier SHO Agha Mohammed Jameel, ASI Abdul Basit, head constables Muslim Shah and Faisal Hafeez, constables Zafar Iqbal, Zulfiqar Ahmed, Ghulam Mustafa, Ahmed Khan, Raja Hameed, Gulzar Khan, Zakir Mehmood and Ghulam Shabbir were the arrested accused in the case. They all have been granted bail.

Shoaib Suddle, who is now the IG of Balochistan, Masood Sharif and Rai Tahir have been exempted from appearing before the court. Other accused persons and the 17th prosecution witness, who is yet to be cross examined by the defence lawyers, was also present. Special public prosecutor Ilyas Khan was, however, called absent.

The court had recorded the statement of Ghulam Mustafa, a worker of the Mir Murtaza and eye-witness in the case, in July 2000.

Mr Zardari, who was granted bail in the case in December last in the Mir murder case, was arrested on November 5, 1996 at the Punjab Governor’s House initially under the Maintenance of Public Order following the dismissal of the Benazir government by the then president Farooq Leghari.

Police effected his arrest in the Mir Murtaza Bhutto murder case after the Sindh High Court set aside his detention under the MPO.

All the accused, except Inspector Zeeshan Kazmi, in the case are on bail. Inspector Kazmi is still absconding in the case.