Islamabad, December 11, 2023 : The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has approached the Supreme Court (SC) to request the live broadcast of a hearing concerning a presidential reference against the death sentence of former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
On December 12, a nine-member larger bench of the Supreme Court is set to address a longstanding presidential reference aiming to reconsider the ‘controversial’ death sentence given to former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Filed by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the plea asserts that the legacy of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto endures despite his death sentence in 1979.
The PPP chairman has urged the apex court to broadcast the hearing live. On April 2, 2011, the then-president Asif Ali Zardari submitted a presidential reference to the apex court, seeking its opinion on reexamining the trial of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) founder.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto received a death sentence during the tenure of former military ruler General (retired) Ziaul Haq. The country’s inaugural elected prime minister faced charges in the murder trial of political rival Nawab Mohammed Ahmed Qasuri.
Despite numerous pleas and appeals for clemency, including interventions from various Heads of States, Bhutto was executed on April 4, 1979.
