Islamabad: The hearing of the presidential reference against the hanging of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto will take place today in the Supreme Court.
According to the details, the Supreme Court will hear the presidential reference to declare the execution of former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto as judicial murder today.
A nine-member larger bench headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa will conduct the hearing,
Chief Justice Justice Gulzar Ahmed will preside over the nine-member larger bench for the hearing. The members of the larger bench include Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin, Justice Jamal Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi, and Justice Musrat Hilali.
Chairman People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto has demanded to broadcast the Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto reference hearing live.
Bilawal Bhutto has said in the petition filed in the Supreme Court that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged on the charge of conspiracy to murder, Bhutto’s ideology is still alive today, the reference hearing should be allowed to be broadcast live.
Bilawal Bhutto said in a conversation with the media yesterday that Bhutto’s killers will be exposed, he is grateful to the Chief Justice for appointing a reference.
It should be remembered that former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was sentenced to death in the murder case of Nawab Muhammad Ahmad Khan Qasuri, the deceased was the father of Bhutto’s political rival Ahmad Raza Qasuri.
Judge Justice Naseem Hasan Shah, who upheld the High Court’s verdict, later admitted that General Zia had pressured Bhutto to sentence him to death.
On November 1974, an attack took place on the political rival of Zulfikar Bhutto, Ahmed Raza Qasuri. In the gunfire, Ahmed Raza Qasuri’s father, Nawab Muhammad Ahmed Khan, lost his life. Following this incident, Ahmed Raza Qasuri leveled allegations against Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
On July 5, 1977, General Zia-ul-Haq overthrew Bhutto’s government and the Lahore High Court, headed by Maulvi Mushtaq, sentenced Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to death in the Nawab Muhammad Ahmad Khan Qasuri murder case.
The Supreme Court upheld the verdict by a margin of four to three and on 4 April 1979, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged in Korawalpindi Jail.
Justice Naseem Hasan Shah, one of the four judges who later pronounced the death sentence, admitted in an interview that General Zia had pressed for the death sentence.
In the year 2011, the government, led by President Asif Zardari and involving Zulfikar Bhutto’s son-in-law, initiated a reference. The basis of this reference was an interview of Justice Nasim Hasan Shah. However, even after six hearings, the Supreme Court did not reach a decision. Now, after an almost 11-year-long wait, the Supreme Court is set to resume hearings from tomorrow.
