ISLAMABAD: As a nine-judge larger bench of the Supreme Court is set to commence proceedings on Monday (Jan 8) to address a long-pending presidential reference seeking to revisit the controversial 1979 death sentence awarded to former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the PPP has submitted an additional document consisting of transcripts and video recordings of various interviews.

Headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, the larger bench will include Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminud Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, and Justice Musarrat Hilali.

The additional documents were filed through senior counsel Farooq H. Naek in compliance with the earlier directions given on Dec 12, 2023, which contain certain documents and video recordings, etc.

The documents consist of passages from books “Kuch Yadain Aur Taasurat” by Justice (retired) Naseem Hassan Shah; “Mubalaga Na Mubalaga” by Mian Muhammad Arshad, former district and session judge Punjab; “Adliya Ke Urooj Aur Zawal Ki Kahani” by Sohail Waraich; “Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Pakistan” by Rafi Raza; USB and CD, transcript of a video containing an interview of Dr Naseem Hassan Shah by Iftikhar Ahmed; transcript of a video of Dorab Patel; another transcript of a video interview of the official in charge of Rawalpindi jail retired colonel Rafiuddin; transcript of a video interview of sub-martial law administrator Khawaja Rahat Latif and many others.

Supreme Court to commence proceedings on ex-PM’s death sentence tomorrow

The reference was filed on behalf of former president Asif Ali Zardari on April 2, 2011, to seek an opinion on revisiting the death sentence awarded to former prime minister Bhutto under the Supreme Court’s advisory jurisdiction. The reference was filed before the top court under Article 186 (1 and 2) of the Constitution, empowering the president to refer any question of public importance to the Supreme Court to seek its opinion on an issue.

On Oct 9, 2018, PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari requested the SC to allow him to become a party in the case, stating that the applicant’s grandfather, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was brutally executed in consequence of a stroke of a pen, the 10-page application drafted by Farooq H. Naek stated. It added that although his life cannot be brought back by a similar stroke, his dignity can be restored and reflected correctly to some extent in the books of precedent and legal history of Pakistan.

The court had earlier declined to accept a request made by the counsel for former president Zardari, Babar Awan, to allow at least one camera to video record the entire court proceedings in a similar fashion as was done in the O.J. Simpson murder trial held by a US court and the Nuremberg trials.

But Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry turned down the request then with an observation that the court was not so advanced. However, in view of the recent experience of live-streaming of the full court hearing of the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023 case, any request for live coverage, if advanced, may be accepted by the court.

In a split verdict of four to three, a seven-judge Supreme Court bench upheld a Lahore High Court verdict, awarding the death sentence to the former prime minister in March 1979 during the regime of military dictator Gen Ziaul Haq. Gen Zia had overthrown the PPP government in July 1977.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2024