Bilawal takes exception to SC judge questioning maintainability of ZA Bhutto reference

• Bilawal questions “statute of limitation” in hearing Bhutto reference.
• Seeking justice for murder is legal right of everyone: PPP chief.
• Urges SC to set legacy for country via ZA Bhutto reference verdict.

Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal-Bhutto Zardari Wednesday raised several “questions of law” a day after a judge of the Supreme Court questioned the maintainability of 12-year-old Zulfikar Ali Bhutto reference.

On Tuesday, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah observed that the matter pertaining to the trial of the PPP founder had attained finality as a review petition had been dismissed earlier, so how can the apex court re-open the case that has already been concluded.

A nine-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Qazi Faez Isa heard the presidential reference seeking to revisit the ZAB murder case.

The apex court heard the attorney general and PPP counsel Farooq H Naek, and adjourned the hearing till the second week of January 2024.

The PPP chairman, while addressing lawyers at Peshawar High Court Bar Association today, said: “I want to ask you a few questions of law as I was asked that you are pleading this [ZA Bhutto] reference but what’s your question of law."

“My question of law is that can judiciary commit a murder or become co-accused in committing a murder,” the PPP chief said.

Bilawal questioned the “statute of limitation” in hearing ZA Bhutto reference that was filed by then president Asif Ali Zardari in 2011, asking the top court to review the verdict that sentenced PPP founder and former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to death in 1978.

“Seeking justice for murder is a legal right of everyone,” he said, opposing the limitation to hearing the cases that are time-barred.

“Murder is murder no matter how many years have passed,” he added.

Taking a jibe at former chief justices, Bilawal without naming anyone, asked what's the question of law in launching a dam fund campaign — a reference to former top judge Saqib Nisar's campaign initiated during the Imran Khan government.

He also asked if any chief justice has the right to take steps to restore a city to its original plan by demolishing the houses of the poor. Bilawal was referring to the ex-chief justice Gulzar Ahmed who ordered the demolition of buildings and slum areas built illegally in Karachi.

“We will speak about the question of law but along with that we hope that […] as per law and Constitution, the Supreme Court will set a legacy in its order to give a roadmap for the progress and prosperity of the country and youth,” he added.