ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has appointed nine amici curiae (friends of court) to assist
it in the 12-year-old Zulfikar Ali Bhutto reference and adjourned the hearing of the matter till
January next year
A nine-member larger apex court bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez
Isa and including 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 heard the reference on Tuesday.
During the hearing, Justice Shah also raised questions over a 12-year-old presidential reference
seeking to review the death sentence awarded to the PPP founder.
The SC judge sought assistance in determining the questions of law, observing that the court
had already dismissed the appeal against its verdict which had also achieved the finality.
“The Supreme Court can’t hear another appeal on the matter. How can we rehear the matter that
had been closed?”
Former president Asif Ali Zardari, on April 2, 2011, approached the apex court through a
presidential reference under Article 186 of the Constitution to seek its opinion on revisiting the
trial of the PPP founder.
Previously, an 11-member larger bench of the apex court, headed by former chief justice Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry, had conducted five hearings on the presidential reference — whose last
hearing was held on November 11, 2012.
Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan represented the federal
government in the reference, while Farooq H Naek appeared on behalf of the PPP chief who
has applied to become a party in the matter.
Advocate Ahmed Raza Kasuri, the man who had lodged the first information report (FIR)
against the former prime minister, also appeared before the bench and requested the CJP to hear
his arguments in the case as well.
“Every legal heir has the right to be heard,” the CJP responded to his request.
The court proceedings of the reference were broadcast live on the official website and the
YouTube channel of the Supreme Court.
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 CJP Isa, Justice
Masood and Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan.
Previously, an 11-member larger bench of the apex court, headed by former chief justice Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry, had conducted five hearings on the presidential reference — whose last
hearing was held on November 11, 2012.
Court appoints 9 amici curiae
Following the initial hearing of the case, the top court also appointed nine more amici curiae
(friends of court) — Justice (retd) Manzoor Malik, Advocate Khawaja Haris, PPP Senator Raza
Rabbani, Advocate Khalid Javed, Barrister Salahuddin Ahmed, Advocate Faisal Siddiqui, Zahid
Ibrahim and Yasir Qureshi and Barrister Salman Safdar — to assist it in criminal and
constitutional aspects of the case.
The SC said legal experts Makhdom Ali Khan and Ali Ahmed Kurd had already been appointed
as amici curiae.
The top court in its order also directed Geo News to submit a record of late PM Bhutto’s
interview and video clips.
The apex court asked the amici curiae to explain what kind of opinion is required from the court
in the presidential reference and discuss its maintainability.
The SC adjourned the hearing of the case till January 2024 and announced holding a day-to-day
hearing on the reference from next month.
“No adjournment will be granted when the hearing starts in January,” the top court order stated.
CJP dispels speculations
At the outset of the hearing, the CJP dispelled the speculations over the constitution of the
larger bench hearing the reference.
He said none of the members part of the current bench hearing the reference were judges when
the presidential reference was filed, and neither of them had ever heard the matter at any stage.
“You may even wonder over the constitution of this bench,” the CJP said adding that the bench
was formed by the judges’ committee in line with the Practice and Procedure law.
“[…] let’s not speculate on everything. This chief justice has relinquished powers, and now the
matter is decided by the committee..one senior member did not want to be part of this bench,”
he added.
PPP leaders attend SC hearing
PPP leaders including Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Asif Zardari and Sherry Rehman have also
arrived at the top court to attend the hearing.
Speaking to the media outside the SC, Rehman said an important day for the PPP has finally
come after many years.
“[CJP] Qazi Faez Isa has fixed this case for hearing, better late than never,” she added.
The PPP chairman Monday moved the Supreme Court of Pakistan seeking a live broadcast of
the reference.
Bilawal, in his civil miscellaneous application, had urged the court to allow the live telecast of
the hearing “so that the whole of Pakistan could hear it”.
The PPP chairman had also voiced his expectation from the chief justice to “rectify
constitutional mistakes”.
“The whole nation knows Quaid-e-Awaam was innocent […] The nation has to be informed who
were the facilitators behind [Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s] murder,” Bilawal said during a political
gathering in Kohat district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Sunday.
“We hope that justice would be done with the history,” he added.