ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday issued its reserved opinion on the trial, sentence and execution of late Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, saying he was not given a chance for a “fair trial”.
A nine-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, reserved its opinion on a 2011 presidential reference to review the conviction and execution of the founder and former Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Prime Minister Bhutto on Monday.
The bench also includes Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Musarrat Hilali.
“Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was not given a fair trial and it was not in accordance with the constitutional requirement of due process,” CJP Isa said while announcing the short order.
The court’s decision comes almost 12 years after former president and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari filed a presidential petition seeking a review of the verdict and execution of the PPP founder and former prime minister.
Bhutto was executed on 4 April 1979 following a Supreme Court verdict in what her party called a “judicial murder”.
The reference — filed by Zardari on April 2, 2011 under Article 186 of the Constitution — was taken up by an 11-judge larger bench of the Supreme Court headed by former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, which held five hearings on the reference.
On 12 December 2023, the reference hearing resumed under a nine-judge bench headed by CJP Isa following the decision to dispose of the instant case under the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023.
The DV appointed amicus curies with criminal and constitutional expertise, sought their assistance, particularly on the maintainability of the instant application, which has been pending in court for 11 years.
Besides the CJP, the other members of the bench are Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Musarat Hillai.
After hearing all sides, the bench reserved its opinion earlier this week.
