KARACHI, Dec 21: The district and sessions judge, Central, on Tuesday cancelled the bail of Asif Ali Zardari, the husband of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and ordered his re-arrest in the Justice Nizam murder case.

The judge issued non-bailable warrants for the arrest of Mr Zardari, and also ordered confiscation of the surety of Rs300,000 deposited by Mr Zardari. The judge ordered the prosecution agency to arrest Mr Zardari and produce him before the court on Jan 8, the next date of hearing.

The court also cancelled the bail granted to Javed Akhtar Pirzada, another accused in the case, as he did not appear before the court despite repeated notices. Asif Zardari was released in November after he spent eight years in jail on charges of murder, corruption and drug smuggling.

Asif Zardari, Akhtar Javed Pirzada, Bilal Shaikh and Babar Sindhu are facing charges of the double murder. Justice Nizam Ahmed of Sindh High Court and his son Nadim Ahmed, a lawyer, were shot dead in an attack on June 10, 1996, outside their house in PECHS.

The complainant, Group Captain (Retd) Sikandar, brother-in-law of Justice Nizam Ahmed, had lodged an FIR of the incident at Ferozabad police station. The killings were attributed to a dispute over a prized plot near Awami Markaz as Justice Nizam Ahmed had opposed its commercialization and illegal allotment.

The plot was stated to be purchased by Javed Akhtar Pirzada as a front man for ex-Senator Asif Ali Zardari, an accused in the case. Shahdat Awan, counsel for Mr Zardari, told Dawn that he reached the court of Judge Pir Ali Shah at 8:30am with an application, seeking exemption for his client.

As the hearing began, the judge sought Mr Zardari's personal appearance. The defence counsel moved an application, requesting the court to exempt him in Tuesday's hearing as the defendant had to rush to Islamabad due to some personal engagement.

The defence counsel also submitted that the court may condone absence of his client as the case had been fixed for formal purposes. The judge, however, rejected the defence plea, and stated in his short order that no valid and cogent grounds have been made for his absence, hence the plea is rejected.

Mr Zardari had obtained a pre-arrest bail in Justice Nizam murder case on March 12, 1999, in the sum of Rs 300,000 from the then district and sessions judge, Central, Yamin Yousuf. Co-accused Bilal Shaikh and Babar Sindhu, who are also on bail, were present in the court, with their respective counsel.

The judge cancelled Javed Akhtar Pirzada's bail as he did not appear on previous hearings. Besides, the surety for his bail also proved bogus. His counsel, Mohammad Ramzan, allegedly submitted documents of property, owned by Ms Saghir Fatima, without her consent. The woman appeared in the court and stated that the lawyer had taken her property documents on the pretext of getting them verified.

She said she even did not know that the documents were being used for obtaining bail. The judge also sent a reference to the bar council for cancellation of Mr Ramzan's license.