0
ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry wondered on Monday how reinvestigation on an FIR against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto commenced in 1977 when it had been closed in 1975 after declaring it an untraceable case.
“An untraced case means a case where no evidence was available,” the chief justice emphasised while presiding over an 11-judge special bench hearing a presidential reference moved to seek its opinion on revisiting the 1979 controversial death sentence against the PPP founder, which critics call a 'judicial murder'.
A large number of PPP provincial legislators, including Chief Ministers Syed Qaim Ali Shah of Sindh and Amir Haider Khan Hoti of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa attended Monday's proceedings.
The chief justice asked Babar Awan, the counsel of President Asif Ali Zardari, to read out the entire FIR to give a basic picture of the case and its background to the court in addition to the reference and the five questions formulated by the president on the request of the court.
On Nov 11, 1974, an FIR was lodged after the assassination of Nawab Mohammad Ahmed Khan Kasuri implicating former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto for conspiracy to murder his political opponent Ahmad Raza Kasuri at the Ichara Police Station in Lahore, under Sections 120-B, 302, 109, 301 and 307 of the Pakistan Penal Code. Ahmad Raza Kasuri, son of the deceased, claimed in the FIR that he was the actual target.
On Monday, Babar Awan startled the Supreme Court bench when he disclosed that then acting Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court Maulvi Mushtaq Hussain had transferred the murder case against Mr Bhutto from the trial court to a larger bench of the high court comprising himself, Justice Zakiuddin Pal, Justice M.S.H. Qureshi, Justice Sheikh Aftab Hussain and Justice Malik Gulbaz Khan without any application, without assigning any reason, without any notice to the accused or hearing him and without any record.
Four prosecutors, M. Anwar, M.A. Rehman, Ijaz Hussain Batalvi and Farooq Badar, appeared, but the Sept 13, 1977, order sheet of the high court was silent whether or not the case was transferred on their request.
The order sheet simply stated: “In view of the submissions made in the petition the case is transferred to this court for trial. It shall be heard by a full bench consisting of myself, Zakiuddin Pal, M.S.H. Qureshi, Sheikh Aftab Hussain and Malik Gulbaz Khan. To be heard on Sept 24, 1977.”
The answer for this haste lies in a different bench, Mr Awan explained, where a single-judge bench of Justice K.M. Samdani granted bail after holding the evidence against Mr Bhutto incomplete and contradictory. However, Justice Samdani had to pay heavily for his order as he was removed from the court immediately.
When the court expressed its doubt about the absence of any application or record for transferring the case, Mr Awan said he had spent three days in the Supreme Court and could not find anything to substantiate the transfer of the case.
This is how the case against Mr Bhutto started, Mr Awan said, adding that Maulvi Mushtaq was known for his hatred and bias against Mr Bhutto.
