ZAB’s ‘judicial murder’: Govt files reference in SC
Federal law secretary says that the apex court did not raise any objection over the reference.
ISLAMABAD:
A reference seeking to revisit the case of judicial murder of PPP’s founding chairman and one of the country’s most popular premiers, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB), was sent to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary on Saturday.
President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday signed the reference under Article 186 of the Constitution which states, “If, at any time, the president considers that it is desirable to obtain the opinion of the Supreme Court on any question of law which he considers of public importance, he may refer the question to the Supreme Court for consideration. The Supreme Court shall consider a question so referred and report its opinion on the question to the President.”
The reference was filed by Masood Chisti, Secretary Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs which has been registered in the Supreme Court.
During a press conference in the morning, Federal Minister for Law Dr Babar Awan said that the PPP had always contested the impartiality of the 1979 death by hanging verdict handed down to its founding leader by the Lahore High Court during Chief Martial Law Administrator Ziaul Haq’s dictatorial regime. Benazir Bhutto had vowed to reopen the case but she did not live to make it happen.
In answer to a question, Awan said that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had filed a reference on the judicial murder of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in the Supreme Court to cleanse the history of the judiciary of the black judgment it had upheld.
He has been authorised by the federal cabinet to send a reference regarding the Bhutto murder case to the apex court, he added.
Replying to a question on the failure of earlier PPP governments in reopening the Bhutto case, he said that their governments had been dissolved by presidents Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Farooq Leghari. Therefore they could not be expected to file a reference as it was their prerogative.
He said that the Supreme Court of Pakistan was reopening 40-year old cases. “We hope that the apex court will also reopen the Bhutto murder case,” he said. “The judicial murder of Bhutto is present in the books but no one is ready to accept it,” he added. In answer to another query, he said that it would be an honour for him if the Supreme Court were to summon him to present his arguments for the historic case.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 03rd, 2011.
A reference seeking to revisit the case of judicial murder of PPP’s founding chairman and one of the country’s most popular premiers, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB), was sent to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary on Saturday.
President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday signed the reference under Article 186 of the Constitution which states, “If, at any time, the president considers that it is desirable to obtain the opinion of the Supreme Court on any question of law which he considers of public importance, he may refer the question to the Supreme Court for consideration. The Supreme Court shall consider a question so referred and report its opinion on the question to the President.”
The reference was filed by Masood Chisti, Secretary Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs which has been registered in the Supreme Court.
During a press conference in the morning, Federal Minister for Law Dr Babar Awan said that the PPP had always contested the impartiality of the 1979 death by hanging verdict handed down to its founding leader by the Lahore High Court during Chief Martial Law Administrator Ziaul Haq’s dictatorial regime. Benazir Bhutto had vowed to reopen the case but she did not live to make it happen.
In answer to a question, Awan said that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had filed a reference on the judicial murder of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in the Supreme Court to cleanse the history of the judiciary of the black judgment it had upheld.
He has been authorised by the federal cabinet to send a reference regarding the Bhutto murder case to the apex court, he added.
Replying to a question on the failure of earlier PPP governments in reopening the Bhutto case, he said that their governments had been dissolved by presidents Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Farooq Leghari. Therefore they could not be expected to file a reference as it was their prerogative.
He said that the Supreme Court of Pakistan was reopening 40-year old cases. “We hope that the apex court will also reopen the Bhutto murder case,” he said. “The judicial murder of Bhutto is present in the books but no one is ready to accept it,” he added. In answer to another query, he said that it would be an honour for him if the Supreme Court were to summon him to present his arguments for the historic case.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 03rd, 2011.