Pakistan's Ex-President Asif Ali Zardari Hospitalised After Feeling Unwell: Reports

Pakistan's former president and PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari was on Friday admitted to a hospital after feeling unwell, according to media reports.

Pakistan People's Party (PPP) co-chairperson and his son Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari arrived here from Islamabad while his daughter Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari also reached the city from Dubai along with her husband, Geo News quoted party sources as saying.

Mr Zardari "fell ill due to the exertion and exhaustion from travelling for court appearances and the budget session," The Express Tribune quoted party sources as saying.

In October last year, the 65-year-old former president and husband of the country's first woman prime minister Benazir Bhutto was admitted to a private hospital due to low sugar level.

Mr Bilawal, during his recent address in Parliament, said that Mr Zardari had attended a budget session despite being unwell.

Mr Zardari, who was the 11th President of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013, recently arrived here from Lahore and Islamabad. In Lahore, he had attended a meeting with former Punjab chief minister Pervaiz Elahi, the report said.

The veteran PPP leader, who is facing multiple corruption cases, was released from jail in December 2019 after the Islamabad High Court approved his bail on medical grounds. He had been suffering from ischemic heart disease, which means his heart may have an inadequate supply of blood and oxygen.

An accountability court in Islamabad last year indicted Mr Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and other accused in the mega-money laundering pertaining to the fake accounts case.

Mr Zardari is facing multiple corruption cases that have stemmed from a mega money laundering scandal, which came into the limelight in 2018.

He, Faryal and several of their business associates are being probed as part of a 2015 case over fake accounts and fictitious transactions, which were initially found to have totalled Rs 35 billion, conducted through 29 "benami'' accounts.