SC reserves verdict after completing hearing of Bhutto reference

ISLAMABAD (92 News) - The Supreme Court on Monday reserved the verdict after completing hearing of the presidential reference against the execution of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

The nine-member bench headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa conducted the hearing. Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa remarked that the court will announce the verdict some another day.

In 2011, former president Asif Ali Zardari had sent the presidential reference about the hanging of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The reference was filed under Article 186 (1 and 2) of the Constitution, which empowers the president to refer any question of public importance to the apex court to seek its opinion on any matter.

In March 1979, a seven-member SC bench had upheld a Lahore High Court verdict of awarding death sentence to the former prime minister in 1977.