Islamabad: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday granted bail to former president and co-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party Asif Ali Zardari on medical grounds.
Zardari is currently admitted in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad for multiple health issues including heart ailments, diabetes and backache.
On Wednesday, a division bench of the IHC comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aamer Farooq directed Zardari’s counsel to submit surety bonds worth Rs10 million (Dh237,217).
The National Accountability Bureau’s prosecutor general Jahanzaib Bharwana and deputy prosecutor general Sardar Muzafar Abbasi represented the anti-corruption watchdog, while Farooq H. Naek argued on behalf of Zardari.
During the hearing, NAB prosecutor submitted Zardari’s medical report prepared by a five-member medical board, which was constituted on IHC’s orders to examine the former president.
According to the medical board, Zardari is suffering from type-2 diabetes and also various heart ailments. It further revealed that he had three stents placed in him and needed an angiography.
The report said it was not possible for Zardari to receive proper treatment while in jail.
Last week, the IHC had directed the PIMS to constitute a medical board to ascertain Zardari’s health condition.
A PIMS spokesperson had earlier revealed that an MRI report showed that Zardari’s brain was shrinking.
Zardari was under NAB custody in a case of money laundering through fake bank accounts.
The two-member IHC bench also heard a bail application filed by Zardari’s sister Faryal Talpur, but adjourned it until December 17 as NAB had not submitted a response.
In an application filed earlier this month, Talpur had maintained that she is the mother of a differently abled child and requested the court to grant bail until the completion of the trail.
PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari attended the hearing on Wednesday. He expressed his gratitude to the judges and thanked the people of Pakistan for their prayers.
“Zardari is going to come out. He will get medical treatment and then, you know that he is a hunter. He will come out to hunt the player,” Bilawal told the media.