The National Assembly passed a resolution Wednesday demanding the overturning of the death sentence given to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, a former prime minister and founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party.
The demand was made in light of a recent Supreme Court’s opinion which ruled that former prime Bhutto, who was hanged 44 years ago after being convicted of murder, didn’t get a fair trial.
Bhutto was hanged in 1979 after a trial under the military regime of late General Zia-ul-Haq. “We didn’t find that the fair trial and due process requirements were met,” said incumbent Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa.
The ruling came in response to a judicial reference filed by President Asif Ali Zardari, during his tenure as the head of state in 2011. It sought an opinion by the top court on revisiting the death sentence awarded to the PPP founder.
All three provincial assemblies except the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — where the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is in power — and the Senate have passed resolutions declaring Bhutto a national hero and martyr.
The resolution, adopted by the National Assembly in today’s session and moved by PPP’s Shazia Marri, recognised the trial and subsequent conviction of Bhutto as a “gross miscarriage of justice”.
