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- March 6, 2024
- Kainat Shakeel
- 0
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was not given a fair trial, the Supreme Court (SC) declared on Wednesday. The presidential reference asking for a review of the PPP leader’s death sentence was heard by a nine-member Supreme Court bench, which was presided over by the Chief Justice and included Justices Sardar Tariq Masood, Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Yahya Afridi, Aminuddin Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, and Musarrat Hilali.
In rendering a conclusion, the bench stated that it was not within its authority to reexamine the evidence and reverse the case’s outcome under Article 186 of the Constitution. The main legal and constitutional violations that happened about due process and a fair trial will be noted, but, for specific reasons. The SC had postponed deciding on the reference until Monday.
Background:
Zulfikar Bhutto, the party’s founder and former prime minister, was hanged in Rawalpindi on April 4, 1979. The PPP government filed a reference to revive his case with the Supreme Court on April 2, 2011. Under clauses 1 and 2 of Article 186 of the Constitution, Asif Ali Zardari referred the reference to the SC for a case review. Supporting the PPP government’s position on the reference was Babar Awan. A request to insert the party in the presidential reference was then made by Bilawal Bhutto in 2018, but it hasn’t been resolved in the previous five years.