The Supreme Court of Pakistan took up a presidential reference against the death sentence of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on Tuesday, after a hiatus of 11 years. The last hearing was held in 2012.
Tuesday’s hearing saw the top court appoint nine amici curiae or friends of the court to assist the judges decide five questions posed to the Supreme Court. The hearing was then adjourned until January.
The proceedings were live-streamed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan via YouTube.
A nine-member bench constituted by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), Justice Qazi Faez Isa, began the hearing on Tuesday, with the top judge explaining the composition of the bench. The CJP also regretted the fact that the matter was not heard for 11 long years.
The court order issued at the end of the hearing said that it was unfortunate that the presidential reference was never fixed for hearing after November 12, 2012.
The order said that Bilawal-Bhutto Zardari’s plea for a live broadcast of the proceedings was rendered ineffective as the proceedings were live-streamed.
The court said that PPP lawyer Naik had told the bench that Bhutto’s only surviving offspring was a daughter, but that he also has eight grandchildren. The court allowed all of them to be represented in the court through lawyers.
The order said that nine amici curiae were being appointed. They included Justice (retired) Manzoor Malik, advocates Haris Rauf, Salman Safdar, Raza Rabbani, Khalid Javed, Zahid Ibrahim, Yasir Qureshi, Makhdoom Ali Khan, and Ali Ahmed Kurd.
The court also said in the written order that the government neither withdrew the reference during the past 11 years nor did it want to withdraw it now.
