SC likely to hear Zulfikar Bhutto 'judicial murder reference' next week

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court (SC) is likely to take up a reference filed by former president Asif Ali Zardari to declare the execution of PPP founding chairman and former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto a ‘judicial murder’, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

The reference was filed in 2011 by the then-president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari.

According to sources, a larger bench of the apex court, headed by CJP Justice Qazi Faez Isa, is likely to hear the presidential reference.

The first elected prime minister of the country was charged with the murder of a political rival Nawab Mohammed Ahmed Qasuri and a trial took place.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was handed a death sentence during former military ruler General (retired) Ziaul Haq’s regime.

Amid petitions and appeals of clemency, and mercy from several Heads of States, Bhutto was hanged on April 4, 1979.

The Pakistan People’s Party has been pleading to declare the execution of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as ‘judicial murder’.