International Desk

Pakistan’s Supreme Court admitted on Wednesday that former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was not given the right to a fair trial, almost 44 years after the founding chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was hanged in a murder case in 1979.

A nine-member larger bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, gave the opinion on a presidential reference filed by former president Asif Ali Zardari more than a decade ago. The announcement was also broadcast live on the Supreme Court’s official YouTube channel, according to a report published by the Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune.

The report said the chief justice announced the court’s reserved written order, which said Bhutto's trial in the Lahore High Court (LHC) and then in the Supreme Court was not conducted in accordance with the fundamental rights and fair trial provided by the Constitution.

The larger bench included Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Musarrat Hilali.

Regarding the trial, an Al Jazeera report said Bhutto’s hanging was condemned by most legal experts in Pakistan as a “judicial murder” carried out at the behest of a military regime.

In his ruling, Isa said there have been cases in the past in the country’s judicial history that created a public perception that “either fear or favour deterred the performance” of the judiciary.

“We must, therefore, be willing to confront our past missteps and infallibility with humility in the spirit of self-accountability and as a testament to our commitment to ensure that justice shall be serving with unwavering, integrity and fidelity to the law,” he said.

Bhutto was convicted in the murder case of Muhammad Khan Kasuri by the LHC, over a year after the toppling of his government on July 5, 1977 by military dictator Gen Ziaul Haq. Later, Bhutto’s appeal against his conviction was rejected by the Supreme Court through a 4-3 split verdict.

The PPP always contended that the party founder and the country’s first elected prime minister was falsely convicted and hanged. During the PPP government from 2008-13, the then president sent a reference to the apex court to review the case and acquit Bhutto.

Source : Agency