Islamabad (Web Desk): The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday adjourned the hearing on a presidential reference pertaining to the sentence of former prime minister Zulifqar Ali Bhutto untill third week of February.
A nine-member larger bench of the top court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Amin Ud Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, and Justice Musarrat Hilali resumed hearing of the presidential reference seeking to revisit the 1979 “controversial” death sentence of Bhutto.
At the outset of the hearing, PPP leader Senator Raza Rabbani came to the rostrum.
"Are you an amicus curiae?" questioned CJP Isa. To this, Rabbani said he was representing Sanam Bhutto, Bakhtawar Bhutto and Asifa Bhutto in the case, adding that he has submitted a petition to become a party in the case.
Meanwhile, Zahid Ibrahim, said he was representing Zulfikar Bhutto Jr and Fatima Bhutto.
Amicus curiae Makhdoom Ali Khan then began his arguments, saying that the chief justice had sought the transcript of an interview in the same case.
At this, Justice Mazhar said that this reference was based on the interview of former judge Justice (retd) Naseem Hasan Shah.
On Saturday, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) submitted written comments to the SC regarding the reference.
The PPP, in its comments, has given references from various books and it also included the details of the interview of former CJP Naseem Hassan Shah.
Bhutto was hanged to death on April 4, 1979, in the Rawalpindi district jail in a murder case. His party, however, termed the capital punishment to Bhutto as “judicial murder”.
The reference was moved in 2011 by the then president Asif Ali Zardari seeking to revisit the death penalty awarded to of ZA Bhutto.