ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court is set to announce its opinion on the trial, sentence, and execution of late Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto today, following much deliberation on a presidential reference filed in 2011.
On Monday, a 9-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, reserved its opinion on the 2011 presidential reference seeking to revisit the sentence and execution of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) founder and former premier Bhutto.
Bhutto was hanged to death on April 4, 1979, after a verdict by the Supreme Court in a murder case that his party termed as “judicial murder.”
The hearing resumed on December 12, following a decision to expedite the case under the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023, taken by a three-member committee comprising CJP Isa, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, and Justice Ijazul Ahsan.
During the proceedings, Raza Rabbani, representing Sanam Bhutto, Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, and Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, argued that Bhutto’s trial was not transparent, and he was not named in any first information reports (FIRs) of the murder case.
On the other hand, Additional Attorney General Chaudhry Aamir Reman stated that the reinvestigation of the murder charge on Bhutto was illegal and against trial rules, although he acknowledged violations and injustice, suggesting government intervention at the time.
Following arguments, the court reserved its opinion on the presidential reference, with CJP Isa indicating that a short opinion would be announced after consultation with the bench members.
