Bilawal objects to the SC judge’s criticism of the ZA Bhutto reference’s Maintainability

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Staff Reporter

3 years ago

PPP chief asks, “Can judiciary commit a murder or become co-accused in committing a murder?”

The head of the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP), Bilawal-Bhutto Zardari, posed multiple “questions of law” on Wednesday, following a Supreme Court judge’s inquiry into the sustainability of the 12-year-old Zulfikar Ali Bhutto reference.

Judge Syed Mansoor Ali Shah noted on Tuesday that the PPP founder’s trial matter had reached finality because a review petition had previously been denied; therefore, how can the top court reopen a case that has already been resolved?

The chief justice of Pakistan (CJP), Justice Qazi Faez Isa, presided over a nine-member bench of the supreme court that considered the presidential reference aimed at reopening the ZAB murder case.

The attorney general and PPP counsel, Farooq H. Naek, were heard by the supreme court, which postponed the hearing until the second week of January 2024.

“I want to ask you a few questions of law as I was asked that you are pleading this [ZA Bhutto] reference but what’s your question of law,” the PPP chairman said in an address to attorneys at the Peshawar High Court Bar Association today.

The PPP chief stated, “My legal question is whether the judiciary can commit a murder or be co-accused in a murder.”

When Asif Ali Zardari, the president at the time, filed the ZA Bhutto reference in 2011, Bilawal questioned the “statute of limitation” and asked the highest court to review the ruling that had sentenced PPP founder and former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to death in 1978.

He opposed the restriction on hearing cases that have passed the statute of limitations, arguing that everyone has the legal right to pursue justice for murder.

No matter how many years have passed, murder is still murder, he continued.

Taking a swipe at former chief justices, Bilawal questioned what the legality of initiating a campaign to raise money for dams was, without mentioning any names. This was a reference to the campaign started by former chief justice Saqib Nisar during the Imran Khan administration.

In addition, he questioned whether a chief justice had the authority to demolish impoverished people’s homes in order to return a city to its original layout. Bilawal made reference to Gulzar Ahmed, the former chief justice of Karachi, who gave the order to demolish buildings and slum areas that were constructed without permission.

“We will talk about the legal issue, but we also hope that the Supreme Court will leave a legacy in its ruling to provide a path for the development and prosperity of the nation and its youth, in accordance with the law and the Constitution,” he continued.

Staff Reporter