SC still waiting for record of ZAB case

Headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the 11-judge special Supreme Court bench was hearing a presidential reference moved to seek its opinion on revisiting the 1979 controversial death sentence against Mr Bhutto. – File Photo ISLAMABAD: Missing documents that could give valuable insight into why police investigation in a murder charge against former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was closed in 1975 for lack of sufficient evidence and then revived after two years, continued to haunt the Supreme Court for the third time running on Tuesday. The court, which seemed dismayed over the performance of the Punjab police, ordered authorities to look for facsimiles and submit them before the court at all cost. Headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the 11-judge special Supreme Court bench was hearing a presidential reference moved to seek its opinion on revisiting the 1979 controversial death sentence against Mr Bhutto. The Chief Justice was not happy over the casual attitude of the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Punjab Police as he had no idea that during those days the practice was to prepare four extra copies of all record, including FIRs, challans and supplementary challans. Punjab Advocate General Khawaja Haris, who was assigned the task by the court to look out for copies and submit the same before the court, told the bench that the police had recovered a register that showed a 112-page file was summoned by Justice Mohammad Akram of the Supreme Court in 1978. The file was handed over to Assistant Sub Inspector Aslam Sahi of the FIA to for submission to the judge. But the record does not say whether the files were sent back or retained by the judge. However the chief justice expressed his displeasure over the performance of the police and wondered why a judge would call for such a file at a time when Mr Bhutto's trial had already begun. "Why should we sit when there are copies also," Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said. "We are insisting on the availability of the record that contained FIRs, challans and other relevant documents of the Police Station Ichhra, Lahore, because it was very crucial to answer vital questions and contained untraced evidence against Mr Bhutto, which was later reopened after the proclamation of martial law by Gen Ziaul Haq in 1977. "We are insisting on reading the file so as to learn whether it was consigned to record (closed for lack of evidence) or suspended," Justice Javed Iqbal, one of the members of the bench, observed. Justice Iqbal explained if the record was suspended, it could be reopened, but not if it was consigned to record. Khawaja Haris also conceded that the re-investigation in the murder charge against Mr Bhutto was started without any written instructions. "This makes the entire case suspicious." He, however, assured the bench that he had already ordered the police to try to locate the missing file at three places and expressed confidence that the required record might surface. Dr Babar Awan, representing the President, read out documents from voluminous judicial records of the LHC. He said the investigation was closed in 1975 after the publication of the Justice Shafiur Rehman Commission report, which had not pinpointed any specific allegations against Mr Bhutto. Dr Awan read out a statement of Mohammad Waris, the then DSP and investigating officer of Crimes Investigation Agency (CIA), Lahore. He deposed before the court to establish that he was under pressure to make out a case against Mr Bhutto. During the proceedings the court also recalled the 1981 assassination of Chaudhry Zahoor Ellahi in which Maulvi Mushtaq Hussain, who had then retired as the LHC chief justice, also got injured. The purpose of recalling the event seemed to establish the shared bias among the gentlemen towards Mr Bhutto. The court asked Dr Awan to try to procure the FIR of that incident too. In Nov 1977, the counsel argued, the statements of witnesses were recorded partially and even in the absence of Mr Bhutto. All the statements were recorded under Section 164 CrPC, except that of the principal approver, Masood Mahmood, whose statement was recorded on oath. On one of the occasions, the counsel recalled, chief justice Maulvi Mushtaq ordered police to take away Mr Bhutto from the courtroom due to his "unruly behaviour". Ghulam Hussain, another approver, had moved an application for recording of his statement before the district magistrate.