ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court will announce its much-anticipated opinion today (Wed­nesday) on the long-pending presidential reference to answer whe­ther it can revisit its 1979 judgement that sent Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to the gallows, a verdict that PPP and jurists regard as a historic wrong.

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.

In March 1979, nearly two years after the Mr Bhutto’s government’s ouster by the then military dictator Gen Ziaul Haq, a seven-judge SC bench, in a split four-three verdict, upheld the Lahore High Court’s verdict awarding death sentence to the former premier.

During the closing of the reference hearing on Monday, CJP observed that the court would announce a short order on the reference in a couple of days after consultation since one of the bench members, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, is retiring soon.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2024