Apex judiciary must revoke Bhutto’s capital punishment: Marri

KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party leader, Shazia Marri, has welcomed the release of detailed Supreme Court judgment on the presidential reference to review the death sentence awarded to former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Speaking at a press conference here on Tuesday, the PPP leader said that after the detailed judgment, it had become imperative for the apex judiciary to rescind the capital punishment given to the former PM. She mentioned that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and his sister Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, who are the true heirs of the late Bhutto, attended every hearing of the Supreme Court. She said the PPP’s leadership and activists had to wait for 46 years to get justice.

Shazia Marri was of the opinion that all the political parties should welcome the detailed Supreme Court order and dubbed those against the judgment as ‘undemocratic’. She said ZAB lives forever after he preferred to sacrifice his life for democracy. She mentioned that the apex judiciary in its detailed judgment had acknowledged that an innocent person was executed after an unfair trial. Marri said that implementation of the plan to execute Bhutto had started on July 5, 1977, when a military dictator overthrew the then constitutional and democratically elected government. The serious repercussions of the 1977 military continue to haunt the country till the present day. The PPP leadership and activists struggled for long to revive democracy in the country, Marri said.

Also speaking on the occasion, PPP Sindh General Secretary, Waqar Mehdi, said that capital punishment given to ZA Bhutto caused irreparable damage to Pakistan. He recalled that the high court instead of the sessions court conducted this trial. He said the former military ruler Ziaul Haq exploited the national agencies for his interests.