0
KARACHI, Dec 15: The district and sessions judge, Central, Abdul Maalik, on Saturday condoned the absence of Asif Ali Zardari during the hearing of the Justice Nizam murder case on the defence counsel’s application.
The court fixed Feb 2 for the next hearing after defence counsel Shahadat Awan submitted an application to the court on behalf of his client Asif Ali Zardari, in which he said that his client was out of the country for medical treatment and his doctors had advised him not to travel long distances.
He pleaded that Mr Zardari was suffering from heart disease and coronary artery blockages.
On Aug 31, Mr Awan had provided a medical certificate to the court, issued to Mr Zardari by Samin K. Sharma, MD, and Michael A. Wiener in New York.
According to the prosecution, Asif Zardari, Akhtar Javed Pirzada, Bilal Shaikh and Babar Sindhu are facing charges of the double murder. Justice Nizam Ahmed of the Sindh High Court and his son Nadeem Ahmed, a lawyer, were shot dead in an attack on June 10, 1996, in front of their PECHS residence.
The complainant, Group Captain (retd) Sikandar, brother-in-law of Justice Nizam Ahmed, had lodged an FIR of the incident at the Ferozabad police station.
The killings were attributed to a dispute over a prized plot near Awami Markaz as Justice Nizam had opposed its commercialisation and illegal allotment.
The additional district and sessions judge, East, Naseem Mansoor, on Saturday adjourned the hearing of the Mir Murtaza Bhutto murder case till Jan 19.
Defence counsel Shahadat Awan appeared on behalf of his clients and submitted an application for condoning the absence of the accused on health grounds.
According to the prosecution, Murtaza Bhutto, his adviser Ashiq Hussain Jatoi and six other workers of the PPP (Shaheed Bhutto) were killed on Sept 20, 1996, outside Mr Bhutto’s residence in Clifton in an alleged shootout with the police.
Asif Zardari, Shoaib Suddle, Wajid Ali Khan, Shahid Hayat, Rai Mohammed Tahir and others are accused in the case.
