Supreme Court directs AGP to present record of FIR against ZAB

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed Attorney General for Pakistan to summon heads of Punjab Police, Railway Police and FIA and direct them to trace out ZAB case records from registration of the FIR till closure of the file and present the same before the court.
A murder case was registered against Pakistan People's Party (PPP) founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto at Police Station Ichhra, Lahore in 1974 and then in September 1, 1975, this file of the case was closed. Later when the then military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq came into power by dismissing a democratically elected government, this case was reopened and on the basis of above mentioned murder case, Bhutto was hanged to death on April 04, 1979.
An eleven-member special bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was hearing a presidential reference sent to it by the President under Article 186 by invoking its advisory jurisdiction on the trial of late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Advocate General Punjab Khawaja Haris told the court that the record of the case from its registration to closure of the file could not be found anywhere in complete form. The bench noted that if the record could not be traced, how the bench could answer the questions, posed in the reference.
"How the court would answer the questions if the complete record is not available and there is no evidence regarding the case, it would be difficult to give opinion on any of the query made in the reference," the bench noted. The advocate general said that Aslam Sahi - the ASI of Police Station Ichhra, Lahore and other people who had handed over the record to FIA, are no more in this world. When the CJP asked the advocate general Punjab that on whom the responsibility of not keeping the record of such an important case intact should be fixed, he was unable to respond.
Babar Awan, the government lawyer shifted all the blame on Lahore High Court (LHC), saying that the then Supreme Court also supported the lower courts' decision in Bhutto murder case. He said that the then LHC Chief Justice Molvi Mushtaq issued death warrants of ZAB on March 24, 1979 as soon as the Supreme Court turned down his review petition.
He said that Molvi Mushtaq was the only chief justice in the whole world, who issued three death warrants against Bhutto, while according to law only a session judge can issue death warrants. Justice Chaudhry said that the case was not being reviewed by the apex court. The CJP said that he had great respect for the judges but the facts which were being revealed to them, reflects 'what had they been doing in this particular case'.
Awan was of the view that ZAB was killed before execution and his dead body was hanged just to meet the formality. "When Bhutto was hanged, his face was lifeless," he added.
Justice Javed Iqbal, a member of the bench, said that there came numerous democratically elected governments after 1979. "The questions which are being asked today, if raised at that time, could have been answered more satisfactorily," he observed.
The hearing was adjourned till May 09.