Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s life is to be divided in to five phases: (a) young Bhutto, his education and rise (b) success as a foreign minister; (c) tenure as a prime minister (d) ouster in 1977 and (e) trial and legacy.

2. He was 30 years of age when nominated as head of Pakistan delegation to the UN Conference on the Law of the Seas. A subject, which I teach as a visiting professor of International law. He sounded like Hugo Grotius (the founder of the modern Law of the Seas) while declaring, “The high seas are free to every nation, large and small, old and new, has the right to take fullest advantage of the resources provided by this freedom”. This re-affirmation and his erudite contribution elicited from the delegates of the US and others high praise and thus Bhutto was introduced to the world.

3. ZA Bhutto was born in 1928 and as he was frail in health. He was called “bupa” but was named “Zulfikar” after the name of the sword of Hazrat Ali (RA) symbolising emancipation for Arabia’s poor converting to Islam. While studying at Berkeley (USA) he came under the influence of the teaching of Professor Kelsen, a teacher of International Law whose theories were misapplied in the Dosu case back in Pakistan justifying s successful coup d’état. Bhutto quoted his theories in his speeches and while choreographing the 1973 Constitution. As a lawyer, his first case was a murder case, where he had to defend a poor Sindhi. As the foreign minister of Pakistan, he designed a foreign policy, which is still followed to a large extent.

4. After the Tashkent Declaration, the most famous speech he made was on March 16, 1966 at the Ayub Hall in Rawalpindi, I was also present at the occasion. While mentioning about his perception of Pakistan he inter alia, said, “Pakistan is a mystical idea and is the heart-throb of the people. Pakistan is the culmination of the aspirations of the Islamic order”. After his ouster from Ayub’s Cabinet, Bhutto established the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in December 1967 with the motto, “Islam is our faith”, “Socialism is our economy”, “All power to the people”.

5. The next period of Bhutto’s life was the period when he remained the prime minister of Pakistan and the leader of the people. Some of his outstanding works include holding of the first Jurist Conference in Karachi in 1973, in which I participated as a representative of the Rawalpindi Bar. His interest in jurisprudence never diminished. The 1973 Constitution choreographed by Bhutto is one of his greatest achievements and keeps the nation united. Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto organised the Islamic Summit in Lahore in 1974. He also established the Pakistan Steel Mills in Karachi. Besides, obtaining the release of 90,000 soldiers who were prisoners of the war of 1971. Another landmark achievement of Bhutto was the commencement of the Nuclear programme for Pakistan.

6. He was removed from power through a coup d’état by a person whom he had brought out from oblivion to be the Chief of Army Staff (COAS). The coup took place at the time when talks with the opposition on the issue of the 1977 elections had ended successfully. On July 15, 1977 General Zia called on Bhutto in Murree. Zia was chastised and reminded of Article 6 of the constitution. This was the day when a decision was taken to eliminate Bhutto. His killing was expected at the time of the coup, but somehow Bhutto had survived. This frank talk of Bhutto admonishing General Zia had a historical parallel, determining the course of history.

7. Gandhi used to meet the Indian Viceroy frequently. It was time for his meeting with Lord Lin Lithgow. The latter asked him to support the allied forces in World War-II, otherwise the Germans who were already in France, were expected to cross over the English Channel. Lithgow in order to win Gandhi’s sympathy asked him how would he feel if British women were raped by the Germans, British buildings destroyed and British territory occupied, Gandhi unexpectedly replied he would not mind this because the British were also doing the same in India. This frank remark changed the course of history for the congress and henceforth the views of Muhammad Ali Jinnah as the leader of the Muslims were taken with interest and sympathy.

8. Bhutto was tried by the Lahore High Court in its original jurisdiction, and I witnessed this trial. In his book, “The Judiciary and Politics in Pakistan” M Dilawar Mahmood makes the following observations: “It would be argued for years to come whether Bhutto ever got a fair trial. If the apprehension and pleadings of the accused are any criterion then Bhutto’s transfer application moved in the High Court as well as in the Supreme Court bear ample testimony to the fact that he never got a fair trial.”

9. In her autobiography, “Daughter of the East” Benazir Bhutto quotes John Matthews, QC a lawyer from England who was witnessing the trial in the following words: “John Matthews, QC, a lawyer from England who came to attend the trial in November, was shocked by the proceedings. I was particularly concerned at the way a witness’s favourable answer would be the subject of immediate interruptions from the bench, who would take over the case and cause him to whittle down or change his answers, he told an English journalist later. The defence lawyers were even more concerned. At the end of the trial, not one of the objections they raised or the contractions in the evidence they pointed out appeared in the record 706 pages of testimony”.

10. However, what baffles me the most is as to why Bhutto’s statement was not recorded under section 342 of the Cr PC. Section 342 of the Cr PC provides an opportunity to an under trial to state whatever he wishes to say, or to introduce an alternate theory or give reasons for his false involvement. Bhutto had a lot to say in this connection for history and about the conspiracy against him. His book, “If I am assassinated” in this connection was enough to arraign some head of states having knowledge of the conspiracy as defence witnesses to support his version. It was the duty of the court to have made arrangements for recording such statements.

11. During his appeal, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto addressed the SC personally. An excerpt from the said speech is reproduced below: “Everyone who is made of flesh has to leave this world one day. I do not want life as life, but I want justice, he said. The question is not that I have to establish my innocence; the question is that the prosecution has to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. I want my innocence to be established not for the person of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. I want it established for the higher consideration that this has been grotesque injustice. It puts the Dreyfus case in the shade”.

12. It is alleged that his ouster and the trial were because of a deep-rooted national and international conspiracy. While locating the shrouded facts of conspiracy, we have also to find the names of the personalities who were a part of this joint enterprise and designed the prolongation of the hearing of the appeal before the SC. When it was common knowledge that out of the nine judges, two of them, Justice Qaisar Khan and Justice Waheedud Din held independent views and may have decided for the acquittal. In fact Justice Khan while playing cards at the Rawalpindi Club had tacitly told his friends that there was nothing in Bhutto’s case. “It is also common knowledge that the SC at one point asked whether re-trial of the case was the desire. But the reply from the appellant side came in the negative. The retrial may have re-opened the case after setting aside of the death sentence.

13. Justice Maulvi Mushtaq knew me personally. After his retirement he was agitating his pension matter and gave me a phone call. While talking in utter disappointment he remarked:

“The oligarchy used us as you chew the sugarcane and throw away the pulp.”

14. In the case of Zacharia vs. Republic of Cyprus [1963 AC 634 at page 663] it was said:

“Judges must enforce the laws, whatever they may be, and decide according to the best of their lights, but the laws are not always just, and the lights are not always luminous. Nor again, are judicial methods always adequate to secure justice.”

15. One hears from reports that the political leadership is to file a reference under Article 186 of the constitution before the SC. The question to be weighed will be whether it will be an appropriate step for seeking curative justice. Needless to say that the trial of Bhutto has already been denounced as a “mistrial” and his execution as a “judicial murder”. Nobody accepts this judgment as a precedent. These views on the judgment are already inscribed in stone and cannot be washed away.

16. Anyway it is always open for the parliament to pass a resolution reflecting people’s verdict on the disputed judgment for the annals of history.