What Lies Behind Pakistan’s Apex Court Probing The Hanging Of Former PM Bhutto? (Image: britannica.com/biography/Benazir-Bhutto)

Pakistan’s Supreme Court is all set to hear a plea to look at the legality of the death sentence awarded to former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. A nine-member bench of Pakistan’s Supreme Court will the 44-year-old death sentence, which the court declared in 1979 on December 12. The court proceedings happened notably two months before the national election.

How did the former Prime Minister end up on death sentence; why is the case being re-examined now?

Two years after losing a war to India and Pakistan’s eastern part, Bangladesh gained independence, Bhutto became the ninth prime minister of Pakistan in August 1973. But, during the tense period, the army chief, General Zia-ul Haq conducted a military coup in July 1977, in which he overthrew the government while Bhutto lost power.

After two months, Bhutto was arrested on charges of murdering a political rival; declared guilty by the court; and awarded a death sentence in 1978, though many legal experts opined the trial to be defective. In February 1979, the court hanged Bhutto in Rawalpindi.

The reason for the Supreme Court taking the case now

It was not now that the case is reopening. But it was in 2011, after years of questioning of the trials conducted in Lahore High Court as well as the Supreme Court, Bhutto’s daughter Benazir, filed a case in the Supreme Court demanding a review of her father”s death penalty in June 2011. Since then, only six hearings were conducted regarding the case in 2012 before the hearings were stopped with the Supreme Court bench being changed.

However, political analysts don’t believe that the case has been raised again because of the upcoming general election, but according to many, it is the decision of the judges in the courts who take the opportunity to undo the “sins of the past”, Al Jazeera reports.

Political analyst Mehmal Sarfraz opines that a potential reversal of the verdict could set an important precedent for the country. An unwanted role the military plays in politics in Pakistan has caused judicial murder and throwing out elected prime ministers on frivolous charges. “Bhutto is not coming back, we know that. But such references and cases are political in nature and more than just the question of legality, it is also a matter of legitimacy,” Mehmal Sarfraz said, Al Jazeera reported.