SC adjourns hearing of presidential reference on ZAB hanging till January
ISLAMABAD (92 News) – A larger bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday adjourned the live hearing of the presidential reference about the hanging of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto till January.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa led 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.
According to the order issued by the SC, the court will issue notices to court assistants and seek a reply from them. "The presidential reference was filed under the Article 186 and was heard last time in 2012. Unluckily this reference was not heard afterwards and remained pending," the order said.
Meanwhile, the court appointed nine court assistants and ordered that they could submit their replies in writing or appear in person.
The court accepted Bilawal Bhutto's plea to become party in the case. Attorney General Mansoor Usman Anwar presented the questions raised in the reference to court. He also read out the orders issued by the previous hearings.
Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa remarked that the reference still exits and it has not be withdrawn. "Does the government want to proceed with the reference?"
The attorney general said he had been directed that the government wanted to proceed with the reference. During the hearing, PPP senior leaders Bilawal Bhutto and Asif Zardari were also present in court.
Objecting to the reference, Justice Mansoor Ali Khan remarked that the court could not touch the matter which had been finalized. "The SC had announced the verdict and the review petition had been dismissed. There is no room for the second review petition. The judgement is final and cannot be changed even though it was bad," he observed.
The chief justice asked the attorney general to satisfy the court regarding admissibility of the reference. "What is the legal question in the case? Please mention some legal reference," he observed.
In the beginning of the reference, chief justice clarified that a senior judge did not want to be part of the bench, while two judges recused from the case for personal reasons.
During the hearing, Farooq H Naik inquired about the record of the tribunal which had declared all cases against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as fake.
Ahmed Raza Kasuri appealed to court to adjourn the case until the conduct of the general elections. He contended that no legal question had been raised in the case, adding that Babar Awan was unable to satisfy the court.
He also objected to the appointment of Raza Rabbani as court assistant, saying that the assistants should be neutral.
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.
