We want justice for Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto: Bilawal

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari addressing the media after attending a hearing of the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Presidential Reference at the Supreme Court Pakistan, said that he is present at the building where President Zardari had sent a reference twelve years ago. Twelve years later, the hearing took place today, headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa. We are grateful to the judges for taking the decision to listen to this case at last.

Bilawal said that he had submitted an application in 2018, for this case to be heard and for him to be made a representative as a legal heir. We are grateful for getting the opportunity to be heard in this case along with our lawyers. While being a challenge for the judiciary, this case is also an opportunity to correct the mistakes of the past. We want justice for Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and surely, we demand the answers to the questions raised by the former President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari in his reference. We want for the stain on this institution and law to be removed. While a decision in this case cannot return the Quaid-e-Awam, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, Mir Murtaza Bhutto, Shahnawaz Bhutto and the Jiyalas of the party who accepted martyrdom to us, but we can at least hope that the Chief Justice and his brother judges would do what they can at least. The nation should be told that Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was labelled a ‘murderer’ was actually the victim, Bilawal said. Those who accused him were General Zia ul Haq and the entire system of the time which had been acting as a facilitator. We want to expose the perpetrators, including the dictator, judges, lawyers and politicians of the time.

The people of Pakistan had decided long ago that Quaid-e-Awam Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is innocent. They know that Henry Kissinger had said that ‘We will make a horrible example out of you’, but Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto gifted atomic power to the country and did not compromise on his principles. The people of this country know that Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a leader of the Muslim Ummah, and not only did he unite the Muslim world, he made them realise their true potential. Even at the time, when our Palestinian brothers and sisters were suffering, it was the Quaid-e-Awam who made the Islamic leadership realise that the oil they possess is their strength. They collectively decided to apply an embargo till the Palestinian people are given relief. None of the leaders of the Muslim Ummah involved in this decision died a natural death.

“Our only appeal with the court is that history is rectified, this mistake is corrected and those involved in this crime are brought to book”, Bilawal said. The person Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was accused of attempting to murder is still alive and was present in the court, but Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was martyred. “Everyone calls Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto a martyr, is a murderer ever called so?”, Bilawal questioned. Bilawal said that the parameters of the case that involve our Constitution, law, Islamic jurisprudence and the laws of natural justice and whether they allow for someone to be sentenced to the gallows while the supposed subject of the conspiracy is still alive act as a jarring question mark. Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was given a death sentence, but our religion, law and the Constitution do not allow that.