ISLAMABAD – Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday opined that late prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto did not get fair trial in the murder case.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa announced the unanimous opinion of the nine-member larger bench on the 2011 presidential reference seeking to revisit the sentence, and execution of the Pakistan People’s Party founder and former premier Bhutto.
While reading the opinion, the CJP remarked the apex court was giving its opinion to correct the past mistakes.
Bhutto had been hanged to death on April 4, 1979, following a verdict of the Supreme Court in a murder case that his party termed as “judicial murder.”
After the filing of a presidential reference, an 11-member larger bench of the apex court, headed by former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, conducted five hearings in the presidential reference.
The hearing was resumed by the current chief justice on December 12 following a decision to fix an instant 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.
Historic Decision
Talking to media, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari termed the apex court’s ruling “historic decision”.
He thanked all the judges and lawyers after the opinion was announced, adding that such decisions would put Pakistan on a road leading to development.
