Supreme Court suspends FSC order on transfer of PFT assets

The Supreme Court on Friday suspended the Federal Shariat Court's decision relating to transfer of assets of Sheikh Sultan Trust, formerly known as People's Foundation Trust (PFT) to Benazir Bhutto's heirs on Friday. A five-member Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Tariq Pervez, heard the petition and reversed the Federal Shariat Court's decision in a provisional order.
Former law minister Babar Awan appearing as counsel for the heirs of Benazir Bhutto argued the maintainability of the petition. He said that applicants were not party in the case in Shariat Court so they were not competent to challenge the decision. However, the lawyer for the PFT employees, Aslam Khaki, maintained that since federation did not file appeal in the apex court, anybody was competent enough to file a petition in the Supreme Court.
The court also directed that the Cabinet Division will control the Trust until the final verdict. PFT assets have been frozen from transfer while Trust employees challenged the Federal Shariat Court's decision in the Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court. The trust was founded by late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1974 with the financial support of the UAE and Nusrat Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and Mir Murtaza Bhutto were nominated as its trustees.
In 1977, by orders of the then chief martial law administrator, General Ziaul Haq, the government had taken over the control of the Trust and renamed the Trust as Sheikh Sultan Trust besides replacing its board of trustees. Later, upon the appeal of Benazir Bhutto, the Federal Shariat Court declared the 1977 martial law orders as repugnant to Islam and directed the government and its ministries and divisions to return the ownership, properties and assets of the Trust to the heirs of Benazir and Nusrat Bhutto.
Ghinwa Bhutto, her daughter Fatima and son Zulfikar-Junior (the widow and children of Mir Murtaza Bhutto) filed a petition, stating that they also have legal ownership rights on the Trust. The bench adjourned the hearing till second June to resolve the issue of maintainability.