SC hears ZAB presidential reference

ISLAMABAD: The larger bench of the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday conducted the proceedings of the presidential reference pertaining to the Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) case and appointed the amicus curiae for assistance on legal points in the case.
The court adjourned the hearing till January, and directed for serving notices to amicus curiae for their consents.
During the hearing, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa enquired about the objective of the presidential reference. He also asked how many presidents held the office after former president Asif Ali Zardari, who had sent the reference to the Supreme Court, the official news agency reported.
Explaining the point, Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan said after Asif Ali Zardari, two more presidents held the office. He said that he had no instructions from the federal government to withdraw the presidential reference.
The Chief Justice remarked that this reference was still under the authority of court as no president withdrew it formally. The court said that the reference was heard in 2012 the last time and afterwards no hearing was conducted in this regard.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s lawyer Farooq H. Naek said that the reference had been accepted for hearing. He pointed out that former chief justice Naseem Hassan Shah had admitted in an interview that there was pressure on them while delivering the verdict at that time. Naek said that they had also moved an application in 2018 for the hearing of the presidential reference.
In its order pertaining to the hearing, Justice (retd) Manzoor Malik had been requested to become amicus curiae in this reference. It was also decided to appoint Khawaja Haris, Khalid Javed Khan, Salahuddin, Zahid Ibrahim and Yasir Qureshi as amicus curiae.
The court said that currently a presidential reference was pending before it and it was necessary to take decision on the issue.
It said that Naek had filed an application on behalf of Bilawal to become the respondent in the case. The lawyer told the court that only one daughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was still alive.
The order said that the court was told that there were eight grandsons and granddaughters of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (ZAB). Anyone from the heirs could engage a lawyer if required. It further said that Bilawal had filed application for live broadcasting of the hearing.
During the hearing, Pakistan Peoples Party objected over the names of Faisal Sadiq and Salman Safdar Advocate for amicus curiae while Ahmad Raza Qasoori opposed the name of Raza Rabbani.
The court also sought the complete transcript of the interviews of former chief justice Naseem Hassan Shah and Justice Durab Patel regarding the sentence of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
The further hearing of the presidential reference was adjourned after the winter vacations of the court.
The nine-member larger bench, headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yayha Afridi, Justice Amin ud Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Musarrat Hilali, heard the reference.
The proceeding of the reference was broadcast live on SC’s website and YouTube channel.