KARACHI, July 7: The defence lawyers resumed on Monday the cross-examination of a prosecution witness in the Mir Murtaza Bhutto murder case after a pause of over two years.

Judge Sain Ali Dino Matilo, who is conducting trial inside the Central Prison, put off the hearing of the case till June 10 when the defence counsel for Asif Ali Zardari, husband of former Premier Benazir Bhutto, would cross-examine Ghulam Mustafa, the 17th prosecution witness. There are a total of 223 prosecution witnesses in the case.

Mir Murtaza Bhutto, youngest son of late prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the brother of the then prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, was killed along with six others, including his close aide, Ashiq Jatoi, in September 1996, some 100 meters away from his home in Clifton in an alleged shootout.

Benazir Bhutto’s spouse Asif Ali Zardari, former DIG of Karachi Shoaib Suddle, the then SSP South Wajid Durrani, the then chief of the Intelligence Bureau, Masood Sharif, the then SP of Saddar, Shahid Hiyat, the then ASP of Darakhshan, Rai Mohammed Tahir, the then SHO of Garden, Shabbir ahmed Qaimkhani, the then SHO of Napier, Agha Mohammed Jameel, ASI Abdul Basit, head constables Muslim Shah and Faisal Hafeez, and constables Zafar Iqbal, Zulfiqar Ahmed, Ghulam Mustafa, Ahmed Khan, Raja Hameed, Gulzar Khan, Zakir Mehmood and Ghulam Shabbir have been charged with the killing of Mir Murtaza Bhutto and others. They all are on bail in the case.

The judge also ordered the authorities to keep Mr Zardari in Karachi to ensure his appearance before the court.

During the cross-examination, the prosecution witness deposed that he was the friend of Dr. Mazhar Memon, a leader of the People’s Party (Shaheed Bhutto), who was also injured in the incident.

The defence counsel referred to his statement before the police and made several suggestions. However, the prosecution witness did not agree with the suggestions.

Defence counsel Chaudhri Iftikhar, Kazi M Ashraf and Adam Jafferi cross-examined the prosecution witness.

Shahadat Awan, who appeared for Mr Zardari, did not cross-examine the witness and requested the court to put it off till the next hearing.

He told the court that the chief defence counsel for Mr Zardari, Azizullah Shaikh, was not in the town and the case file was with him.

The judge granted Mr Awan’s request and reserved the cross- examination of PW Ghulam Mustafa till next hearing.

Kazi M Ashraf, counsel for accused Wajid Durrani, moved an application before the court, seeking exemption from personal appearance for his client.

He submitted that his client was scheduled to attend a course, therefore, he may be exempted from attending to the court till Aug 30.

The judge granted the application as Special Public Prosecutor, Ilyas Khan, did not oppose the defence counsel’s plea.

The ailing husband of the prime minister, who was brought to the Central Prison around 10:30am in an in an APC, has been lodged at the Clifton Campus of the Ziauddin Memorial Hospital.

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

The police effected his arrest in the Mir Murtaza Bhutto murder case late November 1996, after the Sindh High Court set aside his detention under the MPO.