Daily Times

CJP Qazi Faez Isa on Tuesday regretted the delay in the fixing of a presidential reference seeking the Supreme Court’s opinion on the 1979 controversial death sentence awarded to former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, saying that it “merits determination”.

“[…] This is the oldest pending remaining presidential reference,” he observed.

The chief justice passed these remarks as a nine-member larger bench of the apex court resumed hearing the long-pending reference. The case proceedings were broadcast live.

During the proceedings, the apex court noted that the reference entailed several constitutional and criminal questions and appointed amicus curiae (friend of the court) to assist the bench on the matter. It also allowed Bhutto’s family to engage lawyers in the reference if they deemed it appropriate.

As the hearing commenced, PPP counsel Farooq H. Naek submitted a request in court on behalf of Bilawal, saying that the latter wanted to become a party to the reference. The CJP said the SC could hear Bilawal as a family member and even as a political party.

Referring to Bilawal’s plea seeking a live broadcast of the hearing, which was filed a day earlier, Justice Isa said the court had decided the same before the submission of the application. Subsequently, the judge directed Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan to read out loud the presidential reference and asked who had filed it. “President Asif Ali Zardari had filed the reference on the advice of the federal cabinet,” Awan responded, adding that the reference had not been withdrawn by any president to date. “I must regret on behalf of the SC that it was not listed earlier because we have a policy now of first in first out unless there is some urgency in a particular case,” Justice Isa remarked.