After 11 years of hearing of PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's reference, the Supreme Court on Tuesday appointed 10 judicial experts, including Justice (retd) Manzoor Ahmad Malik, issuing a notice to the assistants seeking their reply till the second week of Jan 2024.
A nine-member larger bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa heard the presidential reference against the execution of Zulfikar.
During the proceedings, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah raised questions on the reference, saying that the decision was wrong.
“Now that the case has become final, can we examine any judicial decision in the reference? There is also a question of hearability of the reference.”
Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa remarked why the reference could not be scheduled for hearing in 11 years, apologising for the delay in the reference hearing.
Lawyer Ahmed Raza Kasuri said that the hearing on the reference should be held after the general elections.
The court proceedings were shown live on the Supreme Court website. The court accepted Bilawal’s request to become a party in the reference.
The court declared that if any of the other seven grandsons and granddaughters of late Zulfikar wanted to become parties, they could through lawyers.
During the hearing, the attorney general clarified that the government had not given any instructions to oppose the presidential reference.
The chief justice inquired that which president sent the reference.
The attorney general replied that it was sent by President Asif Zardari.
The chief justice remarked, "I regret that the Supreme Court did not fixing the first reference for hearing."
Justice Mansoor raised the question on the reference, saying whether the president could send a reference tomorrow to rewrite all the old decisions as the entire reference revolves around TV interviews.
The court decided to make Justice (retd) Manzoor Malik, lawyer Khawaja Haris, Khalid Javed Khan and Safdar as judicial assistants.
The chief justice said Salahuddin, Zahid Ibrahim, Faisal Siddiqui, Raza Rabbani, Yasir Qureshi and Ali Ahmad Kurd had been appointed as judicial assistants.
During the hearing, PPP's lawyer Farooq H Naek raised objection to the appointment of Safdar and Siddiqui as judicial assistants.
Adjourning the hearing till the second week of January, the court declared that the case would be heard on a daily basis.
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