KARACHI, Nov 7: An Accountability court dismissed on Wednesday an application of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, seeking suspension of proceedings of a corruption reference against her till her return to the country.

The reference against Benazir Bhutto pertained to 1,393 illegal appointments and promotions in different cadres and postings abroad in violation of rules during her last tenure as prime minister.

Saying that the request for adjournment for an indefinite period could not be granted, Judge Muhammed Jawaid Alam of the AC-4 fixed Nov 16 for recording the statement of the accused persons in the case and ordered that Benazir Bhutto should either record her statement before the court herself or through her counsel.

The others, charged with corruption with the former prime minister, were Air Vice Marshal (retd) Umer Farooq, former PIA chief; Naheed Khan, Ghulam Hussain Kazi, Ghulam Qadir Shah Jamote, Siraj Shamsuddin and Najamul Hasan.

Abdul Hafeez Lakho, appearing for Benazir Bhutto, placed on record a facsimile copy of the application written in the hand writing of the former prime minister.

In her application, the former prime minister prayed to the court that she wished to record her statement personally and sought adjournment of the hearing until she returned to Pakistan.

The defence counsel also placed on record a copy of the letter written to him by his client informing him that she had sent the application to the court.

The other accused, all on bail, took the plea that they would record their statements after the statement of the former prime minister, the prime accused in the reference.

Earlier on July 11, the court had rejected the application of the counsel for the former prime minister seeking her exemption from personal appearance at the time of framing the altered charge on her.

Hafeez Lakho, counsel for Benazir Bhutto, had prayed the court on June 14 to amend the charge against the accused persons without calling his client in the court.

Later on Aug 11, the defence counsel for former prime minister Benazir Bhutto filed on Aug 11 an application for the acquittal of his client on the grounds that there was no documentary evidence available on the record against her.

However, Judge Muhammed Jawaid Alam dismissed on Sept 11 the application for the acquittal of Ms Bhutto in the reference.

The reference was initially filed against the former principal secretary of Benazir Bhutto, Ahmed Sadiq, and other accused persons on May 15, 1997.

However, later Ahmed Sadiq was excluded from the investigation and he was made a prosecution witness following his statement before the investigators. He stated that he had only acted upon the orders of the former prime minister.

Following his statement the prosecution agency submitted a supplementary charge against Benazir Bhutto and other accused before the then Ehtesab Bench of the Sindh High Court.

Later, the case was transferred to the accountability court, which recorded the statements of the remaining prosecution witnesses.

The reference was transferred to the Accountability Court on Feb 3 by the Ehtesab Bench of the Sindh High Court, which was earlier hearing the reference.

SENTENCED: The special Anti-narcotics court, headed by Judge Ali Nawaz Pirzada, sentenced on Wednesday two drug pushers to suffer different terms of the rigorous imprisonment.