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Historical Trials
The Trial of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

Board of Editors
(in alphabetical order)

Advisory Council
Bishwajit Bhattacharyya
C.R.Dua
Diljeet Titus
Hemant Batra
John Callagy
K.K.Lahiri
K.S.Bagga
Lalit Bhasin
Dr. Linda S. Spedding

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto the founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the largest and the
most influential political party in Pakistan had also served as the President of Pakistan
from 1971 to 1973 and as Prime Minister from 1973 to 1977. Educated at the
University of California at Berkeley in the United States and University of Oxford in the
United Kingdom, he was executed in 1979 by the Supreme Court of Pakistan for
authorizing the murder of a political opponent Nawab Mohammed Ahmed Qasuri, a
move that was taken under the directives of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.
After General Zia declared Martial Law in the country on the 5th July 1977, Bhutto and
members of his cabinet were arrested by troops of General Zia. Under martial law
Pakistan was under the temporary rule of military authorities. The constitution was
suspended all assemblies were dissolved civil rights also stood suspended the normal
activities of civil court were restricted. In a way there was no Rule of Law in Pakistan.
But Zia promised that elections would take place in October. The validity of martial law
was challenged in Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto v. State1 , the Court on 10th November 1977
unanimously validated imposition of martial law over the country under the doctrine of
necessity.
The court held The reason underlying such a view obviously is that once an extraConstitutional action or intervention is validated on the ground of State or civil
necessity, then, as a logical corollary it follows that the new Regime or Administration
must be permitted, in the public interest, not only to run the day-to-day affairs of the
country, but also to work towards the achievement of the objectives on the basis of
which its intervention has earned validation.

Martin Rogers
M.L.Sarin
Prof. V.S.Mani
Rajiv Atmaram
Rajiv K.Luthra
Rajiv Nayar

Editors
Gitanjali Saraf
Vikramaditya Rai
Sagar S.P. Singamsetty

Founder & Managing Editor

Vikrant Pachnanda

In other words, if it can be shown that the impugned action reasonably falls within one
or the other of the enumerated categories, then it must be construed as being
necessary and thus held valid under the law of necessity2. Thus the imposition of
Martial Law, therefore, stands validated on the doctrine of necessity. Bhutto was later
released on July 29.
Bhutto was arrested again on 3rd September 1977 on charges of conspiracy to
murder under Chapter XVI of Pakistan Penal Code 1860, for authorizing the murder of
a political opponent who was a 35-year-old politician by the name of Nawab
Mohammed Ahmed Qasuri, in March 1974. It was alleged that Bhuto had targeted an
assault on Nawab Mohammeds car on 11th November 1974. Bhutto was released
within 10 days after his arrest on 13th September 1977 after, Justice K.M.A. Samdani
of the Lahore High Court, found the evidence contradictory and incomplete. Justice
Samdani had to pay for this; he was immediately removed from the court and placed at
the disposal of the law ministry. Fearing another arrest, Bhutto named his wife, Nusrat,
the president of the Pakistan People's Party.
Three days later on 17th September 1977 General Zia arrested Bhutto again with other
number and leaders of PPP on the same charges, this time under martial law, and
moreover Bhutto was disqualified them from contesting in elections. Bhuttos trial
began on October 24th October 1977. Bhutto was held in detention for a month. Zia
pledged that new elections would be held within 90 days but he kept postponing the
elections time again.

Associate Editors

Bhutto was tried for Qatl-e-Amd (murder) under Section 300 of The Pakistan Penal
Code which reads as Qatl-e-Amd: Whoever, with the intention of causing death or with

Naina Pachnanda

the intention of causing bodily injury to a person, by doing an act which in the ordinary
course of nature is likely to cause death, or with-the knowledge that his act is so
imminently dangerous that it must in all probability cause death, causes the death of
such person, is said to commit qatl-e-amd., for which the punishment mentioned

Shashank Manish
Vishwam Jindal

under Section 302 are

Editorial Team

302 (a) punished with death as qisas

Conference Corner

302 (b) punished with death or imprisonment for life as ta'zir having regard to the facts
and circumstances of the case, if the proof in either of the forms specified in Section
304 is not available

Internship Corner
Scholarship Corner

302 (c) punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend
to twenty-five years, where according to the injunctions of Islam the punishment of
qisas is not applicable.
Bhutto was also tried under Section 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code which reads as
Punishment of abetment if the Act abetted committed In consequence and where no

express provision is made for its punishment: Whoever abets any offence shall, if the
act abetted is committed in consequence of the abetment, and no express provision is

made by this Code, for the punishment of such abetment, be punished with the
punishment provided for the offence.
Masood Mahmood, the Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency, testified
against Bhutto. In his testimony, he claimed Bhutto had ordered Kasuris assassination
and that four members of the Federal Investigation Agency had organized the ambush
on Bhutto's orders. The four alleged assassins were arrested and later confessed. They
were brought into court as co-accused. Bhuttos defense challenged the prosecution.
During the defense's cross-examination of witnesses, the bench often interrupted
questioning.
When Bhutto began his testimony on 25th January 1978, Chief Justice Maulvi Mustaq
closed the courtroom to all observers. Bhutto demanded a retrial, accusing the Chief
Justice of biasness. The court refused his demand. Bhutto was sentenced under Section
302 (a), when the Court found that the former President and Prime Minister was guilty
under Section 300. The reason given by the Honble Court was that, from the evidence
produced before the Court it was beyond all reasonable doubt that Bhutto was the
mastermind behind the murder of his political rival. The Court also pointed out that the
murder was not a normal murder, the sole purpose of the murder was to remove his
political rival, and moreover the murder was a pre planned murder. The Court also
added that such a murder not only defeated political ethics but also the defeated
constitutionalism.
On 18th March 1978, Bhutto was declared guilty of murder and sentenced to death.
Bhutto was transferred to a cell in Rawalpindi central jail and his family appealed on his
behalf, the hearing commenced in May before the Supreme Court. The matter was
placed before a bench comprising of nine Judges, consisting of Chief Justice Anwar ul
Haq, Justice Muhammad Akram, Justice Dorab Patel, Justice Abdul Haleem, Justice
Nasim Hasan Shah, Justice Ghulam Safdar Shah, Justice Karam Elahi Chauhan, Justice
Waheedudin Ahmad and Justice Qaisar Khan. Chief Justice S. Anwarul Haq who was
close to Zia, and had also served as Acting President when Zia was out, adjourned the
court until the end of July 1978 because five of the nine judges were willing to overrule
the Lahore verdict. The reason behind adjourning the matter was Justice Qaisar Khan
among the five judges who were willing to overrule the Lahore verdict would retire very
soon and thereafter General Zia would appoint some of his own men as the Judge.
During the hearing, Justice Qaisar Khan got retired and Justice Waheedudin Ahmad
who was also against the Lahore verdict fell ill. Still today there is a lot of controversy
whether Justice Waheedudin was genuinely ill or whether he was asked by General Zia
not to preside over the matter, as he was against the Lahore verdict. The remaining
seven judges heard the case. The expected majority was reduced to minority and the
decision taken by the Lahore High Court was upheld. Had the original Bench of nine
judges been maintained, the verdict could well have been 5-4 in Bhutto's favour.
The appeal was completed on 23rd December 1978. On February 6, 1979, the Supreme
Court issued a guilty verdict; a decision reached by a 4: 3. Chief Justice Anwar-ul-Haq
in his eight-hundred pages judgment dismissed all allegations of errors and illegalities
of the Lahore High Courts trial as totally irrelevant to the verdict and confirmed the
death sentence. The Bhutto family had seven days in which to file a review petition.
The Supreme Court granted a stay of execution while studying the petition.
On 24th March 1979 the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. Zia-ul-Haq who was
already calling the former President-Prime Minister a murderer while the case was still
under trial, dismissed hundreds of clemency appeals from all the heads of the country
and ordered for Bhuttos execution. Zia-ul-Haq's decision was motivated by political
considerations and was not the action of an impartial head of state. Bhutto was hanged
at Central jail, Rawalpindi, on 4th April, 1979, and was buried in the village cemetery at
Garhi Khuda Baksh.
For the millions of Pakistanis the trial of Bhutto and his execution stands as a judicial
murder committed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
SURAJIT BHADURI is a 4th year student pursuing B.A. LLB (Hons) from Gujarat National Law
Universiy, Gandhinagar (Ahmedabad) who has written this trial for India Law Journal. He can
be reached at mailsurajitbhaduri@gmail.com.

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