Murtaza Bhutto

ASIF ALI ZARDARI REMANDED
KARACHI, Dec. 21, 1996: The judicial magistrate, South, on Saturday
remanded Asif Ali Zardari, former MNA, in CIA custody for a day. The CIA
produced him amid tight security at 12.50pm in the court of Rashida
Siddiqui, judicial magistrate, South, to seek a 14-day remand. The court,
however, remanded Mr Zardari only for a day because the prosecuting
inspector could not produce any evidence in the support of his arrest in the
Mir Murtaza murder case. The court ordered the PI to produce all
documents, including the medical reports of Mr Zardari, on Sunday. Barkat
Chaudhry, the prosecuting inspector, prayed for the 14- day remand, but he
could not produce any evidence in support of his request.
The PI had informed the court that Mr Zardari had not been named in any of
the three FIRs lodged by the former Clifton SHO, Haq Nawaz Sial, Asghar
Ali, Mir Murtaza's bodyguard or Noor Mohammad, his public relations
secretary, with the Clifton police station. He explained that Mr Zardari had
been booked in the case in the light of several statements made by the
suspects during police interrogation under Section 161. PI Chaudhry also
informed the court that he could not produce the statements, in which the
suspects had accused the former minister for investment, of having conspired
to kill Mir Murtaza. These statements, the PI said, were not available at the
moment, because the police had produced them before the Supreme Court in
a pre-arrest bail application of an SHO.
Farooq H. Naek, the lawyer for Mr Zardari, informed the court that the police
had arrested his client illegally and unlawfully. The police could not justify
his arrest merely on the statements" extracted under duress by the
investigators" from other suspects. He prayed that the court refer the case to
the district and sessions judge, South, instead of remanding him in police
custody.
Mr Zardari complained to the court that he was not allowed to sleep in the
night. "I have some neurological problem and suffering from headache. I am
also a patient of peptic ulcer. "The police do not examine my food as they
would do in Landhi jail to ensure that it was not poisoned."
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