Teary-eyed 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”.
“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,” an emotional Bilawal said while speaking to the media outside the SC in Islamabad.
His remarks came shortly 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 an SC verdict in a murder case that the party has since termed as a “judicial murder.”
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 highlighted that the masses lacked confidence in the judicial system and believed that the 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.
Thanking the judges, lawyers and amici curiae for their role, the PPP chairman expressed hope that following today’s the system will start moving in the right direction.
The development comes as the apex court resumed the hearing on presidential reference after almost a year’s gap in December 2023.
