'Attempt to rectify past mistakes', says Bilawal on Zulfikar Ali Bhutto reference

Reacting to the Supreme Court's (SC) opinion wherein it termed the trial, sentence and execution of ex-prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari Wednesday termed the development as an "attempt to rectify past mistakes".

Commenting on the development while speaking to the media in Islamabad, the PPP chairman highlighted that the court has acknowledged that the PPP founder did not get a fair trial and that today's order is aimed at rectifying past mistakes.

The PPP chairman's remarks follow the announcement of the reserved opinion by a nine-member SC bench, led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, on the 2011 presidential reference filed by Asif Ali Zardari seeking to revisit the sentence, and execution of Bhutto who was hanged to death on April 4, 1979, following an SC verdict in a murder case.

"Zulfikar Ali Bhutto did not get a fair trial and it was not in accordance with the Constitutional requirement of due process," said CJP Isa while announcing the short order of the bench which also comprised 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.

"We must, therefore, be willing to confront our past missteps and infallibilities 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," the top judge added.

Terming Bhutto's death sentence as a stain on the judiciary, Bilawal highlighted that the masses lacked confidence in the judicial system and believed that the wouldn’t get any justice from the courts.

"Due to this stain on the court, people thought that it would be difficult to get justice," he noted.

"We hope that following today’s historical development — when history is being set straight — the future of this country, the court and the democracy will be prosperous," the politician added.

Thanking the judges, lawyers and amici curiae for their role, the PPP chairman expressed hope that following today's the system will start moving in the right direction.

The development comes as the apex court resumed the hearing on presidential reference after almost a year's gap in December 2023.

Previously, an 11-member larger bench of the apex court, headed by former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, had conducted five hearings in the presidential reference — whose last hearing was held on November 11, 2022.

The hearing was resumed by the current chief justice on December 12 following a decision to fix an instant case under the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023, taken by a three-member committee comprising CJP Isa, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Ijazul Ahsan.