ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court (SC) pointed out on Monday that the presidential reference to reopen the case of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto lacked questions of law upon which the court’s opinion could be sought under Article 186 of the constitution, and told government’s counsel Dr Babar Awan to frame a question of law in the reference. A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali and Justice Ghulam Rabbani was hearing preliminary arguments by Awan on the maintainability of the reference.
The court also noted that the correction of legal gaps from the reference was imperative for an authoritative opinion. The chief justice stated that personally he agreed with the move to revisit Bhutto’s case, however, there were some lacunas in the reference that should be removed so that it could be justified. He said a larger bench would be formed to hear the reference after the reference had specific questions of law.
Earlier, Awan resumed his argument and submitted that he had brought three formulations in this regard: whether the decision of the Lahore High Court and the Supreme Court was justified; whether the execution of Bhutto was against some articles of the constitution, and whether it was a justified sentence or a “judicial murder”. He submitted that the reference was also essential in the doctrine of repentance in accordance with the Holy Quran and Islamic injunctions.
The chief justice said that these formulations were unnecessary for the preliminary hearing and could be discussed after acceptance of the reference, when the matter would be heard by a larger bench. He said further that the matter pertained to miscarriage of justice and had become an international phenomenon. “Each reference before this court had some question of law and now this reference is before us where you need to assist us regarding Article 186 of the constitution,” the chief justice said. The court adjourned the next hearing till April 21.
