ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Wednesday, welcomed the Supreme Court’s (SC) opinion on the trial, sentence, and execution of the late prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and termed the development “historic” and said it would help Pakistan progress on all fronts, including the democratic system and judiciary.

While talking to the media outside the Supreme Court after the hearing, an emotional Bilawal said, “The court has acknowledged that Zulfikar didn’t get a fair trial. We hope that following today’s historical development — when history is being set straight — the future of this country, the court and the democracy will be prosperous.”

He said that the historic verdict passed by the Supreme Court on the Bhutto reference would help Pakistan progress on all fronts, including the democratic system and judiciary.

Bilawal expressed these views after a nine-member bench of the top court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa announced its reserved opinion on the 2011 presidential reference seeking to revisit the sentence, and execution of Bhutto who was hanged to death on April 4, 1979, following a Supreme Court verdict in a murder case that the party has since termed as a ‘judicial murder’. He said that history is set to be corrected after 44 years, as he pointed to the fact that Bhutto was hanged decades ago and his family as well as the party have been describing the move as judicial murder since then.

Commenting on the development, the PPP chairman highlighted that the court has acknowledged that the PPP founder did not get a fair trial and that today’s order is aimed at rectifying past mistakes.

Terming Bhutto’s death sentence as a ‘stain’ on the judiciary, Bilawal said that the masses lacked confidence in the judicial system and believed that they wouldn’t get any justice from the courts. “Due to this stain on the court, people thought that it would be difficult to get justice,” he noted.

He noted that it was difficult for ordinary people to trust the judicial system when a popular leader like Bhutto could not get justice.

Bilawal, during a short interaction with media persons, thanked the judges, lawyers, and amici curiae for their role, and expressed hope that now the system will start moving in the right direction.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024