‘Admitting grave mistake by SC to create new history’

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has congratulated the PPP leadership including Asif Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto on the Supreme Court’s opinion on the Bhutto presidential reference.

In a statement today, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that while it is not possible to correct a historical mistake, however, a new history and a new tradition has been established by admitting a serious mistake.

The prime minister said that correcting the abuse of a court by a court is a positive development. The opinion of the Supreme Court in the Bhutto reference will be helpful in understanding the history in the correct context. The correction of past mistakes and the elimination of bitterness will speed up the process of national unity and development.

Earlier today, in a historic turns of events, the Supreme Court in its reserved opinion stated that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto did not get a chance to a “fair trial”.

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa announced the much-anticipated opinion on the presidential reference seeking to revisit the sentence, and execution of the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) founder and former premier Bhutto on Wednesday.

Other members of the larger bench were Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Musarrat Hilali.

The proceedings were broadcast live on the Supreme Court’s website and YouTube channel.

The reference was filed in April 2011 on behalf of former president Asif Ali Zardari sought an opinion under the Apex Court’s advisory jurisdiction on revisiting the death sentence awarded to the PPP founder.