KARACHI: The hearing in the Bhutto reference case has been adjourned till April 18 Aaj Tv reported on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Law Minister Babar Awan resigned to assist the Supreme Court in deciding whether it could revisit its 1979 judgment that hanged Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
However, many Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) members and others feel that the historical verdict was wrong.
The three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had started hearing a reference sent by President Asif Ali Zardari early this month.
The apex court wishes to appoint at least 10 amici curiae (friends of the court) from all four provinces to assist a larger bench to proceed with the matter on a day-to-day basis, which is expected from Thursday.
The reference was filed under Article 186 (1 and 2) of the Constitution.
It was filed in line with a decision taken by the PPP, which Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had founded, and endorsed by the federal cabinet.
The reference empowers the president to refer a question of public importance to the Supreme Court to seek its opinion.
Bhutto’s execution on April 4, 1979, followed a 4-3 decision of a bench of the Supreme Court riddled with allegations that the apex court was manipulated by Gen Mohammad Ziaul Haq who ignored numerous appeals from world leaders for clemency for the leader he had toppled in July 1977.
The ruling was an endorsement of conviction of Zulifqar Bhutto by the Lahore High Court in a conspiracy to murder.
Meanwhile, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, former law minister in the then PPP government, while talking to the media said, “The Supreme Court can only review the decision but can not reverse the verdict.”
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