ISLAMABAD: After a lengthy consideration of a presidential petition filed in 2011, the Supreme Court is set to announce its opinion on the trial, sentence and execution — by the apex court — of late Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on Wednesday (today).
On Monday, a nine-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, reserved its opinion on the 2011 presidential reference that seeks to review the verdict and performance of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). founder and former Prime Minister Bhutto.
Bhutto was hanged to death on 4 April 1979 following a Supreme Court verdict in a murder case her party called “judicial murder”.
Following the filing of the presidential petition, an 11-judge larger bench of the apex court headed by former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry conducted five hearings in the presidential petition.
The hearing was resumed by the present Chief Justice on December 12 following a decision to remedy the instant case under the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023 by a three-member committee comprising CJP Isa, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice. Ijazul Ahsan.
In an earlier hearing, Bilawal-led party bigwig Raza Rabbani — representing Sanam Bhutto, Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari and Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, the late prime minister’s daughter and granddaughter — claimed that the trial of the PPP founder was neither transparent nor supreme. and high courts were constitutional at the time and Bhutto was not nominated in any First Information Report (FIR) of the murder case.
On the other hand, Additional Attorney General (AAG) Chaudhry Aamir Reman, while giving the government’s stand on the matter, said that the re-investigation into the Bhutto murder charges was completely illegal and against the rules of trial.
