ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has appointed a two-judge panel, consisting of Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, to determine whether the Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto reference, filed by former president Asif Ali Zardari in 2011, should be broadcast live.
The committee will also decide on the release of the recording post-reference. The committee is expected to submit its report to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa on December 11.
If approved, this would mark the second instance in the country’s judicial history where a case is televised live. Previously, in September, the hearing of petitions challenging the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023 was broadcasted on national television.
A nine-member larger bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the chief justice, is scheduled to take up the reference on December 12. The larger bench includes Justices Sardar Tariq Masood, Mansoor Ali Shah, Yahya Afridi, Amin-Ud-Din Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, and Musarrat Hilali.
Zardari initiated the reference through Article 186 (1) and (2) of the Constitution, seeking the court’s opinion on the conviction of former prime minister ZA Bhutto. The last hearing occurred in January 2012 by an 11-member bench led by then-Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who applied to become a party to the presidential reference, chaired a meeting with the party’s legal experts. Bilawal is expected to appear before the court when it convenes next week. He emphasized the importance of correcting the historical record, citing international precedents where miscarriages of justice were rectified. He expressed that the victory would extend beyond himself to the people, democracy, and the judicial system.
