Farooq H Naek dismisses reports of Asif Ali Zardari's death

Former president Asif Ali Zardari's counsel has dismissed reports of the death of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader, saying that propaganda is being done against the former president.

Farooq H Naek made the remarks while speaking to the media outside Supreme Court’s Karachi registry during a case against PPP leader Khursheed Shah’s family.

“The reports about Zardari’s death are baseless. He has several illnesses and has back pain but he is at home because of the coronavirus pandemic,” Naik said.

The lawyer added that the government and opposition should sit together to draft laws about the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). “I have made a draft of revisions in NAB laws which are with the standing committee, in which I have recommended that no arrests be made on the bases of just inquiry and investigation,” he said.

He added that he had also recommended abolishing section 9 of the NAB law.

In December last year, a special bench of the Islamabad High Court had granted bail to the former president on medical grounds in the Park Lane and mega money-laundering corruption cases.

In his bail peal, Zardari had said he was suffering from a heart condition and diabetes.

The former president was arrested by NAB on June 10, 2019, after the cancellation of his pre-arrest bail. In October 2019, Zardari was transferred from judicial custody at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad after his health deteriorated.