SC to hear the Bhutto affair on daily basis from next month -- 44 years after he was hanged
Pakistan
Chief Justice Isa expresses his regret over the delay; Proceedings adjourned till next month
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News/Web Desk) – The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned till the second week of next month [January] the hearing of a reference filed against the conviction, sentencing and hanging of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto – the PPP founding chairman and the first democratically-elected Prime Minister of Pakistan.
In a written order issued about Tuesday’s hearing, the apex court said the hearing would be conducted on a daily basis and decided to appoint nine legal experts as amicus curiae to assist the bench in deciding the matter.
The court also issued notice to a private TV channel to share the full interview of the late Justice Nasim Hasan Shah, in which he had described the episode as judicial murder.
On the other hand, the court order also mentions that the PPP leader and senior lawyer Farooq H. Naek would be responsible for providing the transcript of an interview given by the late Justice Dorab Patel.
Patel was among the three judges who went against the majority view held by four others as the Supreme Court rejected the appeal filed by Bhutto.
He would have become the Chief Justice of Pakistan, if he had not opted to resign after the then military dictator Ziaul Haq issued a Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) on March 24, 1981, asking the top judiciary judges to take oath on it.
As the hearing started, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari submitted an application to become a party in the matter, with Naek informing the court that he would be his counsel as well.
Chief Justice Isa observed that they could hear him both as an heir and the political party and expressed his regret that the case wasn’t fixed for hearing earlier, as the entire Pakistan is able to watch the historic event unfolding – the outcome of which can lead to massive consequences at judicial, social and political levels.
Meanwhile, Ahmed Raza Kasuri – the complainant whose application resulted in Bhutto’s hanging – also requested the court to allow him to present his arguments and claimed that no legal point was raised in the reference.
However, the chief justice said they would first hear the arguments of Attorney General Mansoor Awan, who was directed to begin by reading out the reference.
Reading out the reference and replying to various questions raised by the judges, the attorney general said the late Justice Nasim Hasan Shah – who was part of the seven-member bench rejecting the appeal submitted by Bhutto and later also served as the Chief Justice of Pakistan – had said in an interview that it was a judicial murder and admitted in another that one had to accept the orders of those imposing martial law in the country.
He replied in no when Chief Justice Isa asked him whether the original police record [concerning the case and investigation] was found. However, Naek, who is representing the plaintiff, informed the court that the police record consisted of three bundles of documents.
NO! I WON’T BE AMICUS CURIAE
Given the sensitive nature of the matter, the chief justice also touched upon the availability of senior legal experts to play the role of amicus curiae – a legal term meaning "friend of the court” which can be a person or organisation offering the court additional information or perspective about the case.
When he asked whether Aitzaz Ahsan would assist the court by becoming amicus curiae, his assistant lawyer, who was present in the courtroom, said his senior won’t be available.
It is worth noting that Aitzaz – a PPP leader – nowadays is very close to the former PTI chairman and has been representing him in different cases with another party leader Latif Khosa playing the role of his lead lawyer while heading the legal team.
Interestingly, Babar Awan – also a former PPP leader who originally drafted and filed the reference – has become a close aide of PTI while sharing his advice on important legal and political matters.
THE REFERENCE
It was the then president Asif Ali Zardari who had moved the country’s top court on April 2, 2011, through a presidential reference under Article 186 of the Constitution to seek its opinion on revisiting the trial which had culminated with the hanging of Bhutto on April 4, 1979.
Bhutto was removed after a military coup led by the then army chief Ziaul Haq on July 5, 1977, which followed a months-long agitation, as the PNA – Pakistan National Alliance – disputed the results of rigged elections earlier that year in March.
The PNA was an alliance of nine-opposition parties – including JI (Jamaat-e-Islami) and Tehreek-e-Istiqlal of late Asghar Khan – formed as Bhutto eyed a two-thirds majority for introducing amendments to the 1973 Constitution.
It means a nine-member apex court bench led by Chief Justice Faez Isa will hear the matter more than 44 years after Bhutto’s execution at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail and over 12 years after it was filed.
The last time the reference was heard was Nov 11, 2012 by an 11-member bench headed by the then chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry – the fifth hearing in total.
Others members of the bench are: 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.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday announced that the hearing would be telecast live on its website, making it second such instance in the judicial history of Pakistan, a day after Bilawal had filed a petition for the purpose.
Chief Justice Isa had first opted for the unprecedented move in a case pertaining to a legislation that curtailed the chief justice’s discretion to take up any legal matter directly, commonly known as suo moto action, and his powers to entrust cases to his fellow judges.
'HANDS ARE STAINED BLOOD'
“For forty years the hands of the Supreme Court have been stained with the blood of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto,” said his granddaughter Aseefa Bhutto Zardari in a message posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
For forty years the hands of the Supreme Court have been stained with the blood of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. For forty years that shame has tarnished the halls of justice. The very judges who were entrusted with dispensing justice admitted to convicting SZAB under pressure…
— Aseefa B Zardari (@AseefaBZ) December 12, 2023
She said, “For forty years that shame has tarnished the halls of justice,” adding that the very judges who were entrusted with dispensing justice admitted to convicting him under pressure from the dictatorship.
Aseefa reminded that it was an opportunity for the Supreme Court to undo a grievous wrong and exorcise the shame for the sake of her family and Pakistan.
'JUDICIAL MURDER’
On Tuesday, PPP leader Sherry Rehman told reporters outside the Supreme Court building that it was historic day albeit the fact that the development was delayed for so long.
It was a judicial murder, she said, citing one of the judges, who was a member of the seven-member bench that had convicted, and hoped that the justice would at last prevail.
Bhutto was arrested on the charges of conspiring to murder a political opponent two months after his ouster from the office and declared guilty in 1978 by the Lahore High Court (LHC). His appeal in the Supreme Court was then dismissed with a 4-3 verdict in February 1979.
The case pertained to the murder of Nawab Muhammad Ahmad Khan Kasuri in March 1974 as their car was ambushed. His son Ahmed Raza Kasuri, who escaped the attack, had claimed that he was the actual target of the murder plot orchestrated by the then prime minister.
The trial both in the LHC and the Supreme Court has always remained controversial because the way it was conducted as well as the procedural flaws. Result? It has never been cited again as a precedent in any subsequent case in Pakistan.
