Justice to Bhutto

Judiciary, perhaps, is in need of making a legal-correction. Late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto — who served as civilian Chief Martial Law Administrator, President and PM — awaits justice to this day, as it is a foregone conclusion that he was sent to the gallows by a compromised judiciary. Though the causes and consequences are yet to be ascertained to put the record of history in order, it is a good omen that the Supreme Court has finally decided to bring full circle a question of immense public importance by revisiting the ‘controversial’ judgment of 1979. As a nine-member larger bench under Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa hears a long-pending presidential reference from next week, it must keep its head high and not blink in stating the obvious. Bhutto’s judicial execution, as it is widely called, has left many questions unanswered, and surely the canons of justice were not fulfilled as the popular leader was hanged to death.

Bhutto’s legacy is one of civil representation and has left behind a sour taste when it comes to civil-military relations. Irrespective of the fact that Bhutto was part of the military establishment, as he was a member of Gen Ayub Khan’s cabinet, his rise to glory was owing to his debut manifesto of empowering the masses, and will always be remembered for blessing the country with a constitution and a nuclear programme. Pundits of doom say that perhaps Bhutto had grown too big for his boots, and his subsequent crossing of swords with the military brass led to his fall. But what ails is that the shoulders of judiciary were used for this nefarious plot, and this is where the superior judiciary must fix its image by studying anew the case, and the impugned judgment.

This presidential reference and the eagerness of the apex court to sit in humility, to review one its judgments, drives attention to arm-twisting in legal affairs that has unfortunately become a convention in our chequered history. This calls for freeing the judiciary from executive’s pressure, and ensuring that the division of powers as enshrined in the constitution are upheld. The civil society will closely watch as to how Bhutto posthumously is dispensed with justice!

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2023.

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