ZA Bhutto ‘judicial murder’: CJP forms bench to hear reference

Advocate Tariq Asad requests initiation of contempt-of-court proceedings against former CJ Naseem Hassan Shah.

ISLAMABAD:

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has constituted two larger benches and seven other benches of the Supreme Court which will take up important cases, including the presidential reference from next week.

On Monday, a 17-member bench will resume hearing of the National Reconciliation Ordinance review petition. A four-member bench headed by Justice MA Shahid Siddiqui will hear the case of the judges’ extension refused by the parliamentary committee.

On Wednesday, a three-member bench headed by the Chief Justice will hear the presidential reference. A three-member bench headed by Justice Javed Iqbal will resume hearing of the missing persons’ case.

One week after President Asif Ali Zardari sent it to the Supreme Court, the presidential reference for revisiting the case of the ‘judicial murder’ of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto has been challenged in the apex court.

The petitioner, Advocate Tariq Asad, has requested the court to initiate contempt-of-court proceedings against former chief justice Naseem Hassan Shah for his admission that the death by hanging verdict was issued under pressure from the executive. He has submitted that Shah’s case should be referred to the Supreme Judicial Council for revoking his status.

Tariq has pleaded that once a judgment in a criminal case attains finality, a constitutional reference under Article 186 cannot be filed in the Supreme Court. Filing a constitutional reference 30 years after the verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court is tantamount to deliberately scandalising the court and ridiculing it in the eyes of the public.

Asad said that Shah’s statement instigated President Zardari to file a reference. Expressing regret over the judgment is a violation of the oath of office and the judges’ code of conduct, he wrote in the petition. The benefits of the retired judge should be withdrawn and his photographs removed from all the courtrooms of the apex court. Asad has made former chief justice Naseem Hassan Shah, a respondent in the petition.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th,  2011.