ISLAMABAD  -  The larger bench of the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday conducted the proceedings of the presidential reference pertaining to Zulifqar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) case and appointed the amicus curiae for assistance on legal points in the case.

The court adjourned the hear­ing till month of January next, and directed for serving notices to am­icus curiae for their consents. 

During the hearing, the Chief Jus­tice enquired about the objective of the presidential reference. He also asked how many presidents held the office after former president Asif Ali Zardari, who had sent the reference to the Supreme Court. 

Explaining the point, Attorney General of Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan said after Asif Ali Zardari, two more presidents held the office. He said that he had no instructions from the Federal Government to with­draw the reference. 

The Chief Justice remarked that this reference was still un­der the authority of court as no president withdrew it formally. The court said that the reference was heard in 2012 the last time and afterwards, no hearing was conducted in this regard. Bilawal Bhutto’s lawyer Fa­rooq H. Naek said that the reference had been accepted for hearing. He pointed out that former chief justice Nas­eem Hassan Shah had admit­ted in an interview that there was pressure on them while delivering the verdict at that time. Naek said that they had also moved an applica­tion in 2018 for the hearing of the reference. In its order pertaining to the hearing, Justice (reted) Manzoor Malik had been requested to become amicus curiae in this reference. It was also decided to appoint Khawaja Haris, Khalid Javed Khan, Salahuddin, Zahid Ibrahim and Yasir Qureshi as amicus curiae. The court said that currently a presidential ref­erence was pending before it and it was necessary to take decision on the issue. It said that Farooq H. Naek had filed an application on behalf of Bilawal Bhutto to become the respondent in the case. The lawyer told the court that only one daugh­ter of Zulifqar Ali Bhutto was still alive. The order said that the court was told that there were eight grand­sons and granddaughters of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (ZAB). Anyone from the heirs could engage a lawyer if required. It further said that Bilwal Bhutto had filed applica­tion for live broadcasting of the hearing. During the hearing, Pakistan Peoples Party objected over the names of Faisal Sadiq and Salman Safdar Advocate for amicus curiae while Ah­mad Raza Qasoori opposed the name of Raza Rabbani. The court also sought the complete transcript of the interviews of former chief justice Naseem Hassan Shah and Justice Durab Pa­tel regarding the sentence of Zulifqar Ali Bhutto. The further hearing was ad­journed after the winter vacations of the court. The nine-member larger bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yayha Afridi, Justice Amin ud Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Musarrat Hilali, heard the reference. The proceeding of the ref­erence was broadcast live on SC’s website and You­Tube channel.