ISLAMABAD, May 14: The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its judgment on a petition of Asif Zardari seeking a direction that he should be shifted to Karachi so that he could face trial in six criminal cases pending in different courts.

The SC bench, comprising Chief Justice Shaikh Riaz, Justice Mian Mohammad Ajmal and Justice Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi, after hearing Deputy Prosecutor General Accountability, Advocate General Sindh, and counsel of Asif Zardari, reserved the judgment.

The petitioner stated that he had been behind bars for the last many years, and the Supreme Court in its order in October, 2001, had ordered that his case before the accountability court at Attock should proceed expeditiously so that the trial be concluded in a period not later than three months.

The petitioner stated that more than 18 months had passed, but the trial before the accountability court had not been concluded. The petitioner stated that instead of assisting the accountability court in concluding the trial, the prosecution had filed a fourth supplementary reference in the same pending matter comprising 18,000 documents and listing seven more witnesses.

The petitioner stated that at present six criminal cases were pending against him before various courts in Karachi.

The counsel for Asif Zardari stated that his client was being produced before accountability court No II and III in Rawalpindi as well as in a narcotics case before sessions judge, Lahore, to face trial in three references, but not being produced before the courts in Karachi. The petitioner should not be made to suffer for no fault of his own, and made to languish in jail with the threat of murder cases hanging over his head, he said.