An accountability court while accepting the application of Begum Nusrat Bhutto, wife of former prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto acquitted her in the illegal assets reference filed in 1997.
Earlier, advocate Mian Jahangir appeared before the court on behalf of the accused Nusrat Bhutto and submitted that the reference against her was political victimisation, adding that the reference was fabricated in 1997 during the regime of former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif. He prayed that the case against Nusrat Bhutto may be terminated under NRO 2007.
It may be mentioned here that a predecessor judge namely Munir Ahmad Sheikh had awarded three years imprisonment to Nusrat Bhutto in her absentia and also ordered to issue arrest warrants for her production in the court. The judge also ordered to sine die the case file till availability of the accused.
However, another predecessor judge Rana Zahid Mehmood in the year 2007, reopened the case file but on receipt of medical evidence that Nusrat Bhutto was mentally ill and unable to recognise anyone, the trial court again order to sine die. According to prosecution, Nusrat Bhutto was accused of accumulating illegal assets worth $1.5 billion.