PPP submits written reply in ZAB reference

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Saturday submitted its reply in the Supreme Court of Pakistan which is due to resume the hearing of the reference filed against the sentencing and hanging of PPP founder and former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

PPP’s Farooq H Naek filed the written reply in the apex court on behalf of party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

The PPP’s written reply contains references from different law books and a CD and USB containing details of an interview of former chief justice Naseem Hassan Shah.

A nine-judge larger of the Supreme Court, head by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, will resume the hearing of the reference on Monday.

The earlier hearing of the reference was telecast live on the apex court’s website, but this time the live video link will not be available.

Sources said the facility will not be available for two days – on Monday during hearing of ZAB reference and on Wednesday Musharraf case.

The reference was initiated on April 2, 2011, by then-President Asif Ali Zardari, under Article 186 of the Constitution. The purpose was to seek the court’s opinion on revisiting the trial that resulted in Bhutto’s hanging on April 4, 1979.

Bhutto’s removal followed a military coup in 1977, led by then-Army Chief Ziaul Haq, after months of agitation and disputed election results.

Bhutto’s arrest and subsequent conviction in 1978 by the Lahore High Court (LHC) for conspiring to murder a political opponent have been controversial. The case, fraught with procedural flaws, has never served as a precedent in subsequent Pakistani legal proceedings.

Reporter Amanat Gishkori