The Supreme Court on Wednesday observed that the trial under the 1979 judgment that sent former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to the gallows did not meet the requirements of a “fair trial and due process”.
Headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, a nine-judge bench announced its much-anticipated opinion on the long-pending presidential reference to answer whether it can revisit its verdict, that PPP and jurists regard as a historic wrong.
The proceedings were broadcast live on the Supreme Court’s website and YouTube channel.
The reference filed in April 2011 on behalf of former president Asif Ali Zardari sought an opinion under the Supreme Court’s advisory jurisdiction on revisiting the death sentence awarded to the PPP founder.
Announcing the unanimous opinion today, CJP Isa said, “The proceedings of the trial by the Lahore High Court and of the appeal by the Supreme Court of Pakistan do not meet the requirements of the fundamental right to a fair trial and due process enshrined in Articles 4 and 9 of the Constitution, and later guaranteed as a separate and fundamental right under Article 10A of the Constitution.”
The apex court today issued a short opinion and the detailed order will be released later.
As the verdict was read out, the late Bhutto’s grandson, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, clad in a black shalwar kameez and dark blue jacket, solemnly stood alongside his lawyer Farooq H. Naek and Raza Rabbani could be seen wiping his face with a handkerchief.
He later emerged from the courtroom with sunglasses on and briefly spoke to reporters.
Case history
In March 1979, nearly two years after the Bhutto’s government’s ouster by the then military dictator Gen Ziaul Haq, a seven-judge SC bench, in a split four-three verdict, upheld the Lahore High Court’s verdict awarding death sentence to the former premier.
During the closing of the reference hearing on Monday, CJP Isa had observed that the court would announce a short order on the reference in a couple of days after consultation since one of the bench members, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, is retiring soon.
Ahmed Raza Qasuri, on whose complaint the murder case was registered against former PM Bhutto, pointed out that the court had not crossed the hurdle of admissibility of the reference and feared that any opinion by the apex court would open up the floodgates of references inundating the court with tsunami of cases like the Jan 13 denial of ‘bat’ symbol to the PTI.
More to follow
