Shaheen Shahzada, daughter of Laila Shahzada, has moved an application in the Supreme Court’s Human Rights Cell (copy available with The News) describing how these paintings were stolen from her apartment, immediately after her mother’s death in 1994.
The petition alleges: “Immediately after burying my mother, Sohail and Asif Zardari flew to Karachi, broke open her (Shaheen’s) apartment and obtained ninety-three paintings.” The paintings were allegedly stolen in 1994 soon after the death of Laila Shahzada that occurred in a mysterious gas explosion in her house. Laila was an artist of world fame and was the winner of the highest civil awards in Pakistan and was presented the ‘Key to the City’ and Bicentennial Gold Medallion by the Mayor of New York in 1975 in recognition of her services in the field of art.
The paintings were allegedly shipped to London and they remained stored there on behalf of President Zardari. Interestingly, Shaheen has also implicated her own brother, Sohail Shahzada, as co-accused in the painting theft case. Sohail is a Petaro Cadet College classmate of Asif Zardari and lives in Palm Beach, Florida, close to the properties of Asif Zardari, which were mentioned by the NAB in its list of Zardari assets in USA.
