LAHORE, Oct 27: A division bench of the Lahore High Court allowed on Monday withdrawal of an appeal against the grant of bail to Asif Ali Zardari in a drug case.

The Punjab government had filed the appeal against the decision of Lahore’s district and sessions judge Rana Zahid Khan about one-and-a-half year ago. It was under process since then.

The case against Mr Zardari was registered by the Qila Gujar Singh police when Arif Baloch and Shorang Khan were arrested on the charge of drug smuggling. Arif and Shorang ‘confessed’ before the police that they were working as agents of Mr Zardari.

The spouse of Benazir Bhutto was arrested from the Governor’s House in Lahore on Nov 6, 1997, when the PPP government was dismissed.

Mr Zardari has been charged with corruption in eight references.

He is also facing charges of masterminding the murders of Mir Murtaza Bhutto, Alam Baloch and Justice Nizam Siddiqui.

Asif Zardari’s counsel had pleaded before the trial court that police were had no jurisdiction in taking cognizance of the case against Mr Zardari.