Execution of former Pakistani Prime Minister Ali Bhutto in April 1979 (Associated Press)

Islamabad -

44 years after his execution, the Supreme Court of Pakistan admitted a few days ago that former Prime Minister and founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, did not receive a fair trial.

She said that the 1979 ruling - under which Bhutto was executed - did not meet the requirements of "fair trial and due process".

According to the court’s statements, its decision to grant justice to Ali Bhutto after nearly 4 decades came as a correction of the mistakes of the past and an acknowledgment of them and that the Pakistani judicial history was subject to some influences from some forces in the country.

The court's decision sparked widespread reactions in Pakistan and opened the door wide to questions about the extent of the integrity of the judiciary and the extent to which political forces in the country control the rulings issued by it.

Ali Bhutto's rule was overthrown in 1977 following a coup by General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq (AFP)

Case history

Some have linked the consequences of the decision and its effects to the current political reality and what the former Prime Minister and leader of the Insaf Party, Imran Khan, faces in terms of various judicial rulings. He was sentenced in 3 of them to cumulative sentences that reached 31 years under which he is currently imprisoned, and the charges are still pursuing him in other cases.

  • In 1977, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was ousted from power following a coup by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq after a political crisis swept the country.

  • After only two years of imprisonment, in March 1979, he was sentenced to death in a murder case, and the sentence was executed in April of the same year.

  • In 2011, the Pakistan People's Party government - which was headed by former President Asif Ali Zardari, who is now the country's president - submitted a request to reopen the Ali Bhutto case under Article 186 (1 and 2) of the Constitution, which authorizes the president to refer any matter of public importance to the court. Supreme to get her opinion.

  • October 2018, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari - the son of Asif Zardari and Benazir Bhutto and grandson of Zulfikar Bhutto - asked the Supreme Court to allow him to become a party in the case.

  • December 2023, the Supreme Court considered the reference submitted, expressing its regret at the delay in confirming it.

  • January 2024 The Pakistan People's Party provided additional evidence consisting of transcripts and video recordings of various interviews, according to Pakistan's Dawn newspaper.

At a later hearing, the court noted that it could reconsider its previous rulings if it was proven that a significant miscarriage of justice had occurred due to the departure from the Constitution.

Ramifications

The court's decision - which came late - raised questions about its repercussions on the Pakistani scene at the present time, and what it could change in the situation of the Pakistani judiciary, which some see as politicized and influenced by the ruling regime in the country.

Legal expert Arif Chaudhry - who submitted the request to the Supreme Court in 2011 to reopen the case, as he was an advisor to the Ministry of Law - says that this decision has no value and that its effect is “only cosmetic.”

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, he explains this by saying, "Those who issue this ruling are now committing the same mistakes and things that they should not have done."

Chaudhry adds that the court’s decision not only increases doubts about the integrity of the Pakistani judiciary, but is clear evidence of its lack of integrity. He believes that “all the things that were done at that time to persecute and hang Zulfiqar give the full picture of Pakistan, and how things happen in it because it is governed by it.” "Some forces that don't really believe in the rule of law."

For her part, former Pakistan People's Party Senate Senator Sahar Kamran said that the party had been waiting for justice for a long time because the decision taken to execute Bhutto at that time was the first example of "manipulating judicial decisions with bad intent and it was a great loss for the country."

Kamran explained to Al Jazeera Net that the court's decision increases doubts about the integrity and freedom of the judiciary, and she said, "We always used to say that it was a judicial problem, and now the court has corrected its mistakes."

The leader of the People's Party stressed that the judicial system was exposed to danger, and the need for this system to improve, because there were various factors affecting it in Pakistan, and she referred to "the military dictatorships that ruled the country in different periods."

She says that despite the delay in justice, "correcting history means a lot to us."

Regarding the impact of the decision on the current situation, Kamran added, “The judiciary has recognized that the democratically elected Prime Minister of Pakistan did not receive a fair trial from the judiciary.”

She believes that the extent of success can be measured by the extent to which the future course is corrected, and she believes that if things in the future go on the right track and justice is achieved, this will be recorded as a success for them.

Observers liken what happened to the leader of the Insaf Party, Imran Khan, in terms of trials, to what happened to Ali Bhutto (Reuters)

History repeats itself

The court's decision raised questions about the fairness of Pakistani law in sentencing former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

International law expert Asma Bangash asked in her article in the Pakistani Express Tribune newspaper about the status of the judiciary now, 44 years after the death sentence against Ali Bhutto, and pointed out that history is repeating itself in the trial of Imran Khan.

Bangash said that what is taking place today in terms of the trials of Imran Khan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and some leaders of the Insaf Party, is similar to what Ali Bhutto went through, and that it will pass and become part of history.

This is confirmed by legal expert Arif Chaudhry, who said that what Zulfikar Ali Bhutto went through is what Imran Khan is going through now, as all the rulings taken against Khan are unfair and are decisions controlled by other parties in the country, in reference to the military institution.

Chaudhry wondered whether this happens anywhere where the accused does not have the opportunity to question his witnesses, nor to present his testimony in his own defense, and his lawyer is not permitted to conduct pleadings and interrogations, stressing that all of this happens with Imran Khan.

Source: Al Jazeera