LAHORE, April 25: Hearing in a drug case registered against PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari in 1998 has been put off till May 17 as Additional District and Sessions Judge Ijaz Hussain Awan proceeds on leave.

Mr Zardari did not appear before court because of his engagement in Dubai, said his counsel Sardar Khurram Latif Khosa here on Saturday. He said his client had already been exempted from personal hearing.

Mr Khosa said he was convinced that Mr Zardari would be cleared of all charges on his application under Section 265-K of the CrPC.

The counsel said that the drug case against his client was an outcome of political victimization, and a former prime minister, who signed the Charter of Democracy, had also admitted that the case was the result of political rivalry.