LHC, SC didn't fulfill fair trial, constitutional requirements in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto case: SC opinion
ISLAMABAD (92 News) – The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the Lahore High Court and the Supreme Court had not fulfilled the fair trial and constitutional requirements in the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto case.
Giving the opinion briefly in the presidential reference on the controversial hanging of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa observed that some judgments in the history are such that they created this kind of situation.
"The opinion is unanimous on this judgment of the SC. Judges are bound to announce the verdicts according to the law and without discrimination," he ruled.
The CJP observed that there should also be self-accountability in the judiciary. "The judiciary cannot advance without admitting the mistakes of the past. We will write about ignoring the constitutional requirements in the detailed verdict," he observed. He ruled that there was no legal or constitutional method to change the death sentence awarded to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Earlier, a nine-member bench of the SC completed the hearing of the presidential reference and reserved the opinion. CJP Qazi Faez Isa headed the bench which comprised of Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Musarrat Hilali.
PPP counsel Farooq H Naik and Raza Rabbani had presented the arguments. Ahmed Raza Kasuri and the attorney general also presented the arguments as court assistants.
Presidential Reference History
In April 2011, former president Asif Ali Zardari had filed the reference to seek an opinion to revisit the controversial death sentence of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1979.
The reference was filed under Article 186 (1 & 2) of the Constitution, which empowers the president to refer any question of public importance to the Supreme Court to seek its opinion on an issue.
In March 1979, a seven-member Supreme Court bench had upheld a LHC verdict of awarding the death sentence to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto during the rule of Gen Ziaul Haq who had overthrown the PPP government in July 1977. The verdict was announced by 4-3.
On Nov 11, 1974, an FIR was registered after the murder of Nawab Muhammad Ahmed Khan implicating Zulfikar Ali Bhutto at the Ichara police station under sections 120-B, 302, 109 and 301 and 307 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
