Punjab, Balochistan assemblies, Senate: Resolutions moved to declare Bhutto martyr, national hero

LAHORE: Former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto has been posthumously declared a martyr and national hero by a resolution passed with overwhelming support in the Punjab Assembly.

The resolution was presented on Friday in the Assembly by Ali Haider Gillani, the parliamentary leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, stating that world renowned jurists have classified Bhutto’s death sentence as judicial murder and the Supreme Court has also ruled that he was denied a fair trial.

Meanwhile, Balochistan Assembly Deputy Speaker Ghazala Gola welcomed a resolution for giving Zulfikar Ali Bhutto a status of “Shaheed” and declaring the former premier of Pakistan a democratic hero of the nation, in a session of the Balochistan Assembly held here.

In a statement issued here, Ghazala Gola said it was a great honor for her to chair the session of the Balochistan Assembly in which the resolution was tabled. Ghazala Gola said that Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was the most popular prime minister of Pakistan who gave the first Constitution to the country and laid the foundation for making Pakistan a nuclear power. Meanwhile, the Senate adopted a resolution unanimously, demanding the federal government to declare former Prime Minister Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto a national democratic hero. The resolution, moved by Senator Rukhsana Zuberi, said the Supreme Court in its opinion in the Presidential Reference filed by then President Asif Ali Zardari in the murder case of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had acknowledged that a fair trial and due process were denied to the former Prime Minister.