The break in the hearing of appeals against the Lahore High Court (LHC) verdict filed by appellants Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and four others went on for three weeks owing to the absence of the chief justice (CJ). The hearings, which initially began on May 20, 1978, finally resumed on Sep 16, 1978 — the day General Ziaul Haq took oath as President in addition to his position as army chief and the Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA).

When the nine-member bench began hearing the appeal, Bhutto had expressed his doubts over the neutrality of Chief Justice Anwarul Haq. Bhutto had moved a separate application which argued that the CJ should neither sit on the bench nor should he nominate judges to hear the appeal. Rejecting the plea, the CJ remarked that according to the constitution and legal bounds, it was not only his privilege but also his duty and responsibility to look after such cases and also nominate judges for hearing them. No person had the right to ask him to refrain from that responsibility and ask for a bench of his choice. He said he had no malafide intent against the appellant.

On the first day, defence counsel Yahya Bakhtiar pleaded for the presence of the appellate in the court, to which the court ruled that at this stage it was not necessary, and that if at a later stage, were such a need to be felt, the court would consider it. He rejected the perception that the chief justice had any malafide intent against the appellate.

During the hearing, Benazir Bhutto sought a meeting with her father. On June 2, she was escorted from Karachi to Rawalpindi, where she stayed for three hours with Bhutto. Begum Nusrat Bhutto was also brought to the jail on June 5, but could not meet Bhutto as she did not allow jail staff to search a bag she had brought for her husband. She returned without meeting Bhutto.

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On Sept 16, prosecutor Aijaz Hussain Batalvi began his arguments for the government. He pledged that he would not take long to complete his arguments. On the same day, PPP leader from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (then NWFP), Naseerullah Babar, was arrested under martial law regulations on charges of inciting people.

By now, the appeal hearing had entered its final stage. The PPP had not yet settled on a strategy to face the situation, as Benazir Bhutto and her mother Begum Nusrat Bhutto had been detained on Oct 4 as a “preventive measure”. Similarly, other PPP leaders such as Farooq Leghari and Dr Ghulam Hussain were arrested too. A number of second tier leaders in Sindh were also detained under various martial law regulations. However, on Oct 15, the PPP decided to wage a campaign to hold public rallies and protests by peasants, students, labour and political activists demanding end to martial law, restoration of the constitution and release of Bhutto. They decided that they would also court arrest.

On the very same day, a three-member delegation of the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) met Gen Zia in Rawalpindi, followed by PNA’s internal meeting which debated details of the discussion with the General. The participants were told that Gen Zia had changed his mind about forming provincial administrations; instead, he was bent upon holding elections of the local bodies and extending powers to the elected leaders, with the assumption that it would reduce pressure on martial law authorities.

Bhutto expressed his confidence in the court and said: “I am in your hands… Thank God, I have been allowed to say something. You have done me this favour and you have given this right to me. You can even hang me now.”

In some meetings, the General repeated his intentions of holding local bodies’ polls and empowering elected representatives. He thought that this tactic would shift pressure away from holding general elections, much to the dismay of the PNA, which wanted provincial setups at the earliest. On Nov 2, PNA chief Mufti Mahmood called on Gen Zia and informed him about this point of view. Gen Zia held a meeting with Mufti Mahmood again on Nov 25, after which it was hoped that provincial setups would be finalised for which proper names would be discussed at the meeting of the alliance on Dec 1.

Meanwhile, on Nov 1, the Supreme Court continued hearing the final arguments of prosecutor Aijaz Batalvi; he completed arguments on Nov 16. The court allowed personal hearings to Bhutto and four other appellants.

Bhutto began recording his statement on Dec 18, 1978 which lasted for three days. During his statement, he spoke of his entire life from school education to all walks of life, including his sufferings in jail, which according to him, was due to “…the mala fides of a sick and depraved regime”. He said a case against him was “a tissue of lies, a bad novel and a concocted story. It is all a fantasy. No conspiracy — it was all the figment of a malicious imagination of a sick mind.”

During the statement, the CJ interrupted and said: “This is all interesting, but would you like to come to the point?”

Bhutto thanked the court for being heard patiently. He also expressed his confidence in the court and said: “I am in your hands… Thank God, I have been allowed to say something. You have done me this favour and you have given this right to me. You can even hang me now.”

The other convicted persons were also given a chance to speak for themselves. They argued that they merely obeyed the orders given to them by their superiors as they could not afford to disobey.

With this act, the hearing of the appeals came to an end. All that was left now was for the judges to ponder the merits of the case and write the judgment.

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Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, December 14th, 2014