KARACHI, July 28: The district and sessions judge, Central, Nisar Mohammad Shaikh, 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 judge fixed Sept 1 for the next hearing after defence counsel Shahadat Awan told the court that his client was in the United States for medical treatment and his doctors had advised him not to travel for at least six months.

Mr Awan moved a written application on behalf of Mr Zardari. He also placed on court record a medical certificate issued to Mr Zardari by Samin K. Sharma, MD, and Michael A. Wiener in New York.

The defence lawyer submitted that Mr Zardari was suffering from heart disease and coronary artery blockages. Mr Awan said his client was at present undergoing cardiac rehabilitation.

“He underwent stress echo on Oct 2 for the evaluation of the ongoing chest pain,” he said.

He submitted that Mr Zardari also needed to undergo surgery for spine and cataract. “In view of the symptoms, he was strongly advised by his doctors to stay in the US and not to travel out for six months.”

The defence council said Mr Zardari needed additional medical checkups for other ailments and had already done eye surgery while others were being planned.

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 Nadim Ahmed, a lawyer, were shot dead in an attack on June 10, 1996 before their house in the PECHS.

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 Ahmed had opposed its commercialisation and illegal allotment.

Bilal Shaikh was present in the court while Babar Sindhu had been exempted from personal appearance in the court and Javed Pirzada was declared as an absconder in the case.