New Delhi: Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday (March 6) that former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was hanged in 1979 after being convicted of murder, didn’t get a fair trial.
“We didn’t find that the fair trial and due process requirements were met,” Reuters reported Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa as saying.
The nine-member bench led by Isa consisted of 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.
The proceedings were broadcast live on the Supreme Court’s website and YouTube channel.
While announcing the unanimous opinion, Dawn reported Chief Justice Isa as saying, “The proceedings of the trial by the Lahore High Court and of the appeal by the Supreme Court of Pakistan do not meet the requirements of the fundamental right to a fair trial and due process enshrined in Articles 4 and 9 of the Constitution, and later guaranteed as a separate and fundamental right under Article 10A of the Constitution.”
According to the newspaper, the Supreme Court acknowledged that there had been “some cases in our judicial history that created a public perception that either fear or favour deterred the performance of a duty to administer justice in accordance with the law”.
“We must therefore be willing to confront our past missteps and fallibilities with humility, in the spirit of self-accountability, and as a testament to our commitment to ensure that justice must be served with unwavering integrity and fidelity to the law,” Justice Isa said.
“We cannot correct ourselves and progress in the right direction until we acknowledge our past mistakes,” he added.
On the question of whether the awarding and maintaining of the death sentence was “justified or could amount to deliberate murder”, Chief Justice Isa said: “This court cannot reappraise the evidence and undo the decision of the case. However, in our detailed reasons, we shall identify the major constitutional and legal lapses that had occurred with regard to fair trial and due process.”
The court will issue a detailed order later, per news reports.
Bhutto, the founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) now run by his grandson and former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, was hanged in 1979 after a trial under the military regime of late General Zia-ul-Haq.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hailed the ruling. “It is a positive development that a wrong done by a court has been corrected by a court,” he said in a statement from his office, reported Reuters.
“The pursuit of justice was a labour of love by President Asif Ali Zardari in the name of his wife Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. Our family waited 3 generations to hear these words. Jiya Bhutto! Long live Bhutto!” Bhutto Zardari said later in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
More than 44 years after judicial murder and more than 12 years after presidential reference was filed; today a unanimous decision announce by CJP Isa. Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto did not get a fair trial. The pursuit of justice was a labour of love by President Asif Ali Zardari… https://t.co/rTNgLWeood
— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) March 6, 2024
He hoped that, 44 years later, the Supreme Court’s opinion would allow Pakistan to progress, and that the “system” would finally be put on the right path, reported Dawn.
“The stain of this decision made it difficult for the people of Pakistan to have faith in the court, and get justice from this court, especially if someone like the prime minister did not get justice,” he said.
