ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has announced its reserved opinion on the trial, sentence, and execution of Pakistan’s late prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, saying that the former PM did not get a chance to a “fair trial”.
Earlier, on Monday, a 9-member bench of the SC, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, reserved its opinion on the 2011 presidential reference seeking to revisit the sentence, and execution of the PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had been hanged to death on April 4, 1979, after a decision of the SC in a murder case that the PPP termed as “judicial murder.”
SC to Announce Opinion on Bhutto Reference Today
After the filing of a presidential reference, an 11-member larger bench of the SC, headed by former chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, had conducted five hearings in the reference.
However, the hearing was resumed by the current Chief Justice of Pakistan on December 12 after a decision to fix an instant case under the SC (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023, taken by a three-member committee.
The court reserved its opinion on the presidential reference with Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa saying that the SC would announce a short opinion following consulting with the members of the bench.
