Pakistan's ruling PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari was on Wednesday acquitted by the Sindh High Court of involvement in the murder of Mir Murtaza Bhutto, brother of his slain wife and former Premier Benazir Bhutto.

Justice Pir Ali Shah cleared 51-year-old Zardari of involvement in the 1996 killing of Benazir's brother, an event which led to the end of her second and final tenure as Prime Minister.

Murtaza was killed during a police encounter along with eight of his close aides as he was returning to his residence after addressing a public meeting in Surjani Town of Karachi on September 20, 1996.

The three FIRs related to Murtaza's murder were lodged in late 1996. Besides Zardari, former chief minister Abdullah Shah, police officials Shoaib Suddle, Wajid Durrani, Masood Sharif and a number of other police officers faced charges in the case.

Zardari was earlier acquitted in a number of corruption cases under the National Reconciliation Ordinance promulgated by President Pervez Musharraf [Images].