Special report: Pakistani Situation

    ISLAMABAD, March 24 (Xinhua) -- A court in southern Pakistan's port city of Karachi on Monday acquitted the widower of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in a murder case.

    Bhutto's widower Asif Ali Zardari was charged in the assassination of double murder of High Court Judge Justice Nizam Ahmed and his son Nadim Ahmed, a lawyer, who were shot dead in an attack on June 10, 1996, outside their house in Karachi, the News Network International news agency reported.

    The government's lawyer Nimatullah Randhawa had told the court during the last hearing on March 19 that no witness had recorded statement against Zardari and that the case against Zardari was baseless.

    The judge of the District and Session court had reserved the judgment on March 19 and announced the verdict on Monday.

    Zardari's lawyer Shadat Awan said that the prosecution failed to produce any evidence against his client and that the case was filed on political grounds. He said the case was heard for almost 12 years but no formal charges were framed against his client.

    The killings were attributed to a dispute over a prized plot in Karachi as Justice Nizam Ahmed had opposed its commercialization and illegal allotment. The plot was stated to be purchased by Javed Akhtar Pirzada as a front man for Asif Ali Zardari, an accused in the case.

    Shadat Awan had filed a petition in the court, seeking acquittal of his client, since the prosecution failed to produce any proofs of his involvement in the murder case.

    Seven cases of corruption have already been dropped against Zardari under a reconciliation ordinance issued by President Pervez Musharraf in October last year, which had also paved the way for Bhutto's return from exile.

    Shadat Awan said that his client was still facing a case of alleged narcotics smuggling and the murder of Mir Murtaza Bhutto, the slain brother of Benazir Bhutto.