No fair trial was given to Zulfikar Bhutto: Pakistan SC
In a highly anticipated review of the high-profile case, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Wednesday that former Pakistani prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was murdered in 1979 by Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq’s military administration, was not given a fair trial or due process.
The views of the nine-member higher bench of the highest court were declared by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa. Based on a special case that the then-president Asif Ali Zardari brought to the Supreme Court in 2011, it examines the circumstances behind his father-in-law Bhutto’s conviction for aiding and abetting a murder case and his subsequent execution on April 4, 1979.
The Lahore High Court condemned Bhutto to death on March 18, 1978, for her order to have Pakistan Peoples Party founder Ahmed Reza Kasuri killed.
“The trial proceedings do not meet the requirements of the fundamental right to a fair trial,” said Isa when announcing the unanimous decision. However, the Supreme Court also decided that the decision could not be altered since it was against the law and the Constitution.
