ZAB case a done deal: Kasuri

Kasuri, whose father’s assassination was pinned on Bhutto leading to his execution, contended case can't be...

ISLAMABAD:

The presidential reference seeking to reopen the murder trial of Pakistan Peoples Party founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto took a new turn on Saturday. Ahmed Raza Kasuri – whose father’s assassination was pinned on Bhutto, leading to his execution – contended that the case cannot be reopened.

A rejoinder filed by Kasuri argued that the litigation was a “closed and past transaction”, which was a “settled principle”. It cited Article 186 of the Constitution to add weight to his view of the case’s ‘finality’.

Earlier this month, the 11-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry served notice to Kasuri. This was done with the consent of the counsel for the federation as well as those assisting the court as amicus curiae: Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, SM Zafar, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada and Aitzaz Ahsan.

However, former law minister Dr Babar Awan, representative of the federation, had argued that there was no need to call Kasuri. The court had cited Article 10-A, an addition to the Constitution through the 19th Amendment, under which it is necessary for the court to hear opponents of a case.

Nawab Muhammad Ahmed Khan, Kasuri’s father, was killed in 1974. Kasuri himself was the complainant for the murder case registered against Bhutto, who was eventually hanged in 1979. In April this year, 32 years after Bhutto’s death, President Asif Zardari filed a reference under Article 186 of the Constitution to the Supreme Court to reopen the murder trial.

For Kasuri, the court is not obliged to provide relief to the Bhutto family and its supporters, which he sees as the point of the PPP’s move.

He said in his reply that the “sole object of filing this instant reference is to remove the stigma of conviction, which adversely affects the family members of the deceased Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and in particular Pakistan Peoples Party, a statutory body. It is not the constitutional obligation of the court to remove the stigma of the family, exercising its jurisdiction under Article 186 of the Constitution.”

Kasuri also said that the exercise of examining the whole record would open a Pandora’s box in the legal system – and result in a ‘judicial tsunami’ in the courts, as it would open the floodgates of frivolous litigation.

The nature of the motives behind the reopening was again questioned. Kasuri said that Zardari had submitted the presidential reference as a party chief rather than as the president of Pakistan.

Kasuri also questioned the timing of the presidential reference, as under previous PPP governments since the hanging the Supreme Court was not asked to revisit the case.

The court will resume hearing the presidential reference from January 2.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2012.

Correction: An earlier version of the story was incorrectly running a picture of Khusheed Mahmood Kasuri instead of Ahmed Raza Kasuri. The error has been fixed.