SC to hear ZAB murder reference after 12 years next week

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court will resume hearing the presidential reference filed approximately 12 years ago on revisiting the murder case of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto next week.

A nine-member larger bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, will take up the presidential reference on reconsideration of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s murder case judgment on December 12.

The decision to fix the instant case was made under Section 2(1) of the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023, by a three-member committee comprising Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Ijazul Ahsen.

According to Supreme Court Registrar Jazeela Aslam, the other members of the larger bench are Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminud Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, and Justice Musarrat Hilali.

It is pertinent to mention that former president Asif Ali Zardari, on April 2, 2011, had approached the apex court through a presidential reference under Article 186 of the Constitution to seek its opinion on revisiting the trial of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The last hearing of the reference was held on November 11, 2022.

Earlier, 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.

Babar Awan, the-then federal law minister in the PPP regime, had earlier appeared as the federal government’s lawyer in the case and presented lengthy arguments. However, on January 17, 2012, Awan’s law practice license was suspended for criticizing the court’s order in the Memogate case. Later, the case was adjourned due to change of different counsel who were appearing in the instant reference.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has also fixed the petition of sacked Islamabad High Court Judge Shaukat Siddiqui challenging his removal for misconduct on December 14.

A five-member larger bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, will take up the constitutional petition. Other members of the bench are Justice Aminud Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan.