Bilawal moves SC for live hearing of presidential reference against ZAB hanging
ISLAMABAD (92 News) - PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto on Monday filed a petition seeking live hearing of the presidential reference against the hanging of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
The petition filed through Farooq H Naek stated that the hearing of the case should be live so that the entire country could hear it.
“The reference was filed by the then president of Pakistan namely Asif Ali Zardari, who is the father of the present applicant, hence, the applicant is the son of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and the grandson of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who was the founder of the Pakistan People’s Party and a great leader of unprecedented scale, caliber, and character,” it added.
It stated that ZAB was a 'man who arose from the masses, he worked for them, he led them, gave his life for them and till this day live in their hearts'.
The petition contended that throughout his life, Bhutto wanted to uphold the rule of law. “His motto of ‘roti, kapra, and makan’ was a testament to his yearning that every man gets his fair due. It was a loud cry echoing the chords of justice, that ‘Let Justice be done though the heavens may fall’,” it stated.
“This passion of the applicant’s grandfather, however, did not derail the irony that was to befall him. The spirit of justice that he so admired, was nowhere to be found when he himself was adorned with the noose of injustice. He was charged, convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, sentenced and executed on the testimony of an approver in the greatest miscarriage of justice that was ever to befall this country,” the petition contended.
It added that Bhutto’s ideology remains intact to date and his sentence “is not just on the history of the family but a wretched stain on the entire judicial system of Pakistan and remains so till date”.
“It is in order to remove this stain and correct the wrong in history that the applicant has preferred the instant reference to bring on record the reality of the life of his grandfather, hence, the applicant wants that the hearing of this case, should be live/on air, so that the whole Pakistan can hear it and this would be transparent for everyone,” the application said.
A larger bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan will hear the presidential reference about the hanging of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on December 12.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa will head the nine-judge bench comprising of Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin, Justice Jamal Mandokhel, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Musarat Hilali.
In 2011, former president Asif Ali Zardari had sent the presidential reference about the 'judicial murder' of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The reference was filed under Article 186 (1 and 2) of the Constitution, which empowers the president to refer any question of public importance to the apex court to seek its opinion on any matter.
In March 1979, a seven-member SC bench had upheld a Lahore High Court verdict of awarding death sentence to former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1977.
