SC to revisit Bhutto’s execution case after 11 years

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan will hear on December 12 a presidential reference challenging the verdict that led to the execution of former prime minister and the founder of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

The reference was filed by the PPP government in 2011 through the then president Asif Ali Zardari, who is also the co-chairman of the party. The reference seeks to revisit the controversial trial and conviction of Bhutto, who was hanged in 1979 on charges of conspiracy to murder a political opponent.

The reference says that the trial was a “miscarriage of justice” and that Bhutto was denied a fair trial by the military regime of Gen Zia-ul-Haq, who had overthrown Bhutto in a coup in 1977.

The reference also alleges that the judges who heard the case were under pressure and influence from the military and that some of the evidence and witnesses were fabricated or coerced.

The reference was initially heard by an 11-member larger bench of the Supreme Court headed by former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in 2012, but the bench did not give any decision after six hearings.

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The case remained pending for almost 11 years until the current chief justice Qazi Faez Isa constituted a nine-member larger bench to resume the hearing.

The larger bench comprises Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandukhel, Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Hasan Ali Rizvi and Justice Musrat Hilali. Chief Justice Isa will head the bench.

The hearing of the reference is expected to generate a lot of public and political interest, as Bhutto is widely regarded as a charismatic and popular leader who championed the cause of democracy, socialism and national sovereignty in Pakistan. His execution is considered by many as a judicial murder and a dark chapter in the country’s history.