LAHORE, Nov 21: A special court will decide on Tuesday if non-bailable arrest warrants for former federal minister Asif Ali Zardari were issued within the parameters of legal provisions. Comprising Additional District and Sessions Judge Mushtaq Ahmad Tarar, the court waited for the opinion of the public prosecutor before adjourning the hearing of the review petition for a day.

The petition filed by advocate Mian Mohammad Jahangir stated that the warrants were issued despite the court had exempted Mr Zardari for three months from appearing on the basis of a medical certificate submitted by him on Aug 31.

The counsel stated the exemption was valid till Nov 30, and the court was not competent to recall its own order without hearing the accused.

The court issued non-bailable arrest warrants of the husband of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Nov 12 when his counsel, Mian Jahangir, was found absent.

The counsel also stated the accused was indisposed and could not travel to Pakistan from Dubai. He submitted that Mr Zardari had heart problem and was treated in a New York hospital. The doctors had advised Mr Zardari against travelling, he stated.

Mr Zardari is facing drug-trafficking charges along with co-accused Arif Baloch, now serving a sentence in another case at Kot Lakhpat Jail, Fauzi Ali Kazmni, Dr Zulfiquar Ali Mirza, Ayub Afridi, Anwar Khatak and Shorang Khan. The Qila Gujjar Singh police had registered the case in 1997.

However, the ANF has neither recovered any drugs, nor it could produce any material evidence to substantiate the allegations against the accused.

One of the co-accused in the case, Shorang Khan, died of cancer in August this year at the Liaquat Memorial Hospital in Karachi, where he had been admitted for treatment.