ISLAMABAD: A busy week for the Pakistan Peoples Party at the Supreme Court took a populist turn on Saturday, as President Asif Zardari revived the presidential reference to reopen the case relating to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s death.
The government asked the Supreme Court to take up the case at the earliest opportunity, in a move which comes in the aftermath of the SC’s decision to stick by its earlier decision declaring the National Reconciliation Ordinance void.
Legal experts believe that the PPP might be using the ZAB case to garner sympathy – and increased support – from the masses.
Zardari wrote a letter to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to resume hearing the reference, which has been pending since June. After listing some of Bhutto’s achievements and contributions to Pakistan, Zardari wrote: “Tragically, because of a conspiracy and under the dictates of a notorious and cruel dictator who had usurped power after destroying the constitution, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was eliminated through what is universally termed as a judicial murder.”
“The history and the nation are anxiously looking forward for the correction of the record,” Zardari added, before asking the CJ to proceed with the case on a day to day basis.
Under Article 186, the president had sent a reference through law secretary Masood Chishti to the SC to revisit the case of judicial murder of Bhutto, the PPP’s founding chairman as well as a former president and prime minister of Pakistan.
Senior lawyer Dr Babar Awan resigned from his position as law minister to represent the president before a bench constituted by the CJ to answer the reference’s five legal questions.
On receiving the questions, the court asked the Lahore High Court to provide a complete case record of Bhutto’s murder trial.
In view of the importance of the case, the court appointed senior lawyers, including Latif Afridi, Khalid Ahmed, Fakhruddin G Ibrahim, Makhdoom Ali Khan, Aitzaz Ahsan, Ali Ahmed Kurd, SM Zaffar, Tariq Mehmood, Hafeez Pirzada and Barrister Zahoorul Haq to assist in answering the president’s questions.
The president had asked the Supreme Court to answer if the conviction leading to the execution of Bhutto was binding on all other courts, and whether a death sentence was justified in the peculiar circumstances of the case or if it amounted to deliberate murder, keeping in mind the bias against Bhutto.
The president has also inquired whether the verdict against Bhutto fulfilled the requirements of Islamic laws as codified in the Holy Quran and the Sunnah, and finally whether on the basis of conclusions arrived at and inferences drawn from the evidence in the case, an order for conviction and sentence Bhutto should have been passed.
The court last convened on the case in June. A source at the SC said that the CJ was currently in Swat, and no directions had been received for constituting a bench or including the case in the cause list for next week’s hearings.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 27th, 2011.
COMMENTS (12)
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I think two things are at play: 1) waste time or delay NRO related activities until the next 'crisis' is manufactured to distract the public
2) get the supreme court to rule on the illegality of a previous supreme courts decision (against a previous president/sitting prime minister no less). He will use this ruling in the future to legally challenge the validity of any decision taken against him by this supreme court.
Wrong timing . . . is this some kind of diversion from more serious issues of country's sovereignity and betrayal. What about the disgraceful memogate issue? and the continous attacks on its people?
what is CJ doing in swat? have all the pending cases been resolved?
As if we have all the current cases settled.
I am not interested in its correction and i believe neither majority of nation (67 % voters) all the time in Pakistan . Histories don't need the judicial decisions.
If he needs for some reason ,he should mention clearly.
What about the Letter to the Swiss authorities? Comply with the previous decisions first before asking for more justice...
What about the Letter to the Swiss authorities? Comply with the previous decisions first before asking for more justice...
Why should SC show any sense of urgency and criticize its own decision. They would sit on it for as long as they can. One such example is Air Marshal Asghar Khan's case languishing for more than two decades. Perhaps waiting for the demise of the applicant? Justice delayed is justice denied. If it were a political case or critical to executive all 17 members would jump on that as if they had nothing else to do.
This is just a bluff to divert attention from the NRO appeal judgement.Another dirty trick under the sleeve and advise of the infamous BA. Won't help...public has made up their mind...you will know the decision on vote day.
Yes, open ZAB case and forget AAZ (Asif Ali Zardari) case, jeo Pakistan
These types of cases where a gang of generals committed unquestionable atrocities take decades. It is not like they are in hurry like they were when they hanged ZAB. This case should take several decades for the simple question to be answered. An example of such case is Asghar Khan's case that is pending before the SC for decades. What is SC waiting for, the passing of Air Marshal? If there is any case against the current executive, the bench of 17 judges would be ready to pounce on that case and would not tolerate any delay as “justice delayed is justice denied”.