The Islamabad High Court (IHC) heard the pre-arrest bail plea of former president Asif Ali Zardari while an application for his exclusion from attendance of the court hearing was also filed on the basis of medical grounds.

Zardari had marched a bail plea after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) opened an investigation into a New York apartment purportedly owned by Zardari.

A division bench encompassing Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aamer Farooq heard the pre-arrest bail case.

Naik importuned that the former president couldn’t appear before the court due to health problems and the court grant him bail in the NAB investigation in his absence.

He further stated that Zardari was admitted to a private hospital in Karachi.

During the hearing, the court questioned how a bail plea could be heard in the absence of Zardari.

In response, Zardari’s lawyer Farooq H Naik asked the court to award two more days for his client to appear before the court.

However, the court rejected the request to hear Zardari’s pre-arrest bail plea in absentia.

Commenting on the remarks, Justice Aamer Farooq stated that the presence of the candidate is essential in pre-arrest bail cases.