Bilawal Bhutto terms SC opinion on Presidential reference on ZAB case as historic

Liaquat Ali

Islamabad: Chairman Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday termed the Supreme Court’s opinion on the Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto reference as historic and expressed the hope it would help Pakistan progress on all fronts.

Talking to media after the announcement of the Supreme Court opinion, he said history was set to be corrected after 44 years.

Headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, a nine-judge bench had recently taken up the reference filed in April 2011 on behalf of former president Asif Ali Zardari seeking an opinion under the Supreme Court’s advisory jurisdiction on revisiting the death sentence awarded to the PPP founder.

After a nine-member bench shared its verdict, Bilawal said the court had accepted that Bhutto didn’t get a fair trial. He opined that it was difficult for ordinary people to trust the judicial system when a popular leader like Bhutto couldn’t get justice.

Meanwhile in a post on X, Bilawal said that the SC’s opinion came “44 years after judicial murder and more than 12 years after [the] presidential reference was filed”.

“The pursuit of justice was a labour of love by ( former) President Asif Ali Zardari in the name of his wife Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. Our family waited 3 generations to hear these words.”