Reopening of Bhutto's case approved by Cabinet: reference to be filed in Supreme Court

The special meeting of the Cabinet on Monday gave approval to reopening of former prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto case by filing a reference in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. After the Cabinet meeting held with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in the chair, Minister for Information Firdous Ashiq Awan told media at a news conference that the law minister briefed the Cabinet on the reference the President would file in the apex court.
She said after a detailed discussion, the Cabinet approved that the President should file reference in the Supreme Court for reopening of the case. She refused to take any question on the reference saying that law minister would divulge more details through a briefing.
Firdous said the Cabinet also gave approval to transfer of five ministries to the provinces and Inter-provincial Minister Raza Rabbani would brief media about the modalities with respect to employees and attached departments. The minister said that the ministry of culture, livestock and dairy development, social welfare and special education and tourism would be devolved to the provinces.
She said the prime minister while taking the Cabinet into confidence about his upcoming visit to India said this would be a way forward for resumption of composite dialogue between the two countries. The cricket diplomacy, she said would help address the common issues faced by the people of both the countries. The information minister said the Cabinet also strongly condemned the desecration of Holy Quran by Terry Jones saying that the priest has offended the sentiments of Muslim across the world. The meeting decided to hold two days consultative session of the Cabinet on the issues of public reforms and appreciated the fourth address by the President to the Parliament during last three yeas of present government.
The minister said the Cabinet meeting also gave approval for signing of MoUs with Tajikistan for co-operation in health sector and Sri Lanka for co-operation in agriculture. The meeting also reviewed the implementation status of previous decision of the Cabinet and the prime minister directed the authorities concerned to expedite their implementation and endorsed the decision of the Economic Co-ordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC) taken on March 16, 2011.
Replying to question about Interior Minister Rehman Malik's statement about match fixing, she said the prime minister who is head of the Cabinet is fully backing Pakistani cricket team and Rehman Malik is only a member of the Cabinet. The minister said that she was not spokesperson of Rehman Malik and he should himself defend his statement. The information minister said the prime minister held consultations with all the stakeholders before accepting the Indian Prime Minister's invitation for watching semi-final between India and Pakistan cricket team at Mohali. To a question about legal implication for reopening of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto case, she said the law minister was the right person to explain about it. She said that Pakistan People's Party leadership including Benazir Bhutto had made commitment with the party workers for reopening of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto case after coming into power.