PPP should not open a closed chapter rather use its energies and the state resources to come good on its pledge.
LAHORE: President Asif Ali Zardari has signed a reference to be sent to the courts under Article 186 of the Constitution, seeking to reopen the case of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) who was sentenced to death by the Lahore High Court and that verdict was subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court in March 1979 in a split verdict.
The prime minister has said that this has been done because the PPP wants to keep the promise it made to the people during the election when it said that it would rectify the “historic wrong” made in the case of Mr Bhutto. Everybody knows that General Zia wanted ZAB out of the picture and that the superior judiciary was happy to oblige since it was subservient to the military establishment.
What the PPP should be doing is not opening a closed chapter of history but rather using its energies and the state resources available at its disposal to come good on its pledge of ‘roti, kapra aur makan’ to all Pakistanis. Also, one has to wonder what is it that is causing the current government to seek to reopen this case when even Benazir Bhutto never sought to do this when she was alive and in power? It would be fair to say that many impartial observers will feel that this is being done to put the judiciary on the spot.
Engr ST Hussain
Published in The Express Tribune, April 4th, 2011.
