The very obvious target of  Gilani’s desire to reopen the murder trial of  Bhutto and Sheikh Hasina’s plans for trial of 1971 war crimes is the Pakistani Army.  For Bhutto’s trial the Army, the judiciary and a section of political parties especially the Muslim League and Jamaat-e-Islami, had joined hands.  Their aim was to annihilate him through a manipulated judicial procedure.

Today the history is repeating itself  in Pakistan.  The Army, judiciary and the Muslim League (N) are collaborating again this time to oust civilian President Asif Ali Zardari and thereby topple the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Government until Mr. Gilani talked of his desire on Mr. Bhutto’s 31st death anniversary on April 4, he was always trying to be in the good books of the Army, judiciary and the Sharif brothers perhaps to impress that he had genuine commitment to democracy and independent judiciary as compared to President Zardari.  But if he is honest about reopening the Bhutto’s trail, he is apparently challenging the army and judiciary.

For the young generation of Pakistan Bhutto’s trial and execution, if reopened, will be a horror tale of army, judiciary collaboration to banish democracy from Pakistan.  In no civilized society the judiciary can so  willingly submit itself to the murderous desire of the Generals  they did in Pakistan to eliminate the country’s most brilliant politician whatever his faults-mainly because he belonged to a minority province- Sindh- Bhutto was a victim of  Punjabi judges of Punjab High Court and the Supreme Court.

Those who followed Pakistani politics in the 1970s may recall that after toppling Bhutto’s Government in July 1977, the Generals had prepared five cases against him.  One of them related to the break-up of Pakistan in 1971.  Rightist Political Parties including Jamaat-e-Islami and the Muslim League, wanted him to be tried for conspiracy to break up Pakistan. The army had second thoughts about it because in the process of the trial it would have exposed the role of the Generals in the break-up.  They, therefore, picked up the charge against him that he had told his internal security force Chief Masud Mohammad to kill the PPP colleague Ahmed Raja Kasuri, who had engaged with him in Parliament. But while trying to shoot him in a running car, Masud’s men killed Kasuri’s father Nawab Mohammad Ahmad in November, 1974.

Gen Zia-ul-Haq wanted to make sure that Bhutto got a death sentence.  For this purpose he picked up Maulvi Mushtaq Hussian, a judge of Punjab High Court, who was openly hostile to Mr. Bhutto.  He was eager to oblige Gen Zia if he was made Chief Justice of Punjab High Court. Gen Zia first made him the Acting chief Justice and later when he became convinced that Maulvi Mushtaq Hussian would sentence Bhutto to death, he regularized him as the Chief Justice.  Maulvi Mushtaq Hussain constituted a five-judge bench of chosen judges.  One of them belonged to Jammat-e-Islami. Also tried along with Bhutto were a senior officer of the Internal Security Force and three junior officers.  All four of them pleaded not guilty.  But the three juniors were later forced to say that Mr. Bhutto had ordered them to kill Kasuri. They had hoped to get pardon or lesser punishment.  But they got death sentence. 

The judges, particularly the Chief Justice, humiliated Mr. Bhutto at will.  They said he was not a good Muslim and sentenced him to death.

Bhutto’s appeal against this judgment was filed in the Supreme Court.  A nine-judge bench heard the appeal.  During the hearing five non-Punjabi judges were not convinced of the charges against Bhutto.  Gen Zia retained Justice Qaiser Khan amid the hearing of the case. Justice Waheeduddin Ahmad fell sick and was not taken back on the bench when he returned.

Thus, a judgment was given by seven judges. Four of them, including Chief Justice Anwar-ul-Haq, upheld the death sentence on him.  They all belonged to Punjab.  The three who gave the dissenting note belonged to non-Punjab provinces. Thus the Supreme Court gave a very bad message to non-Punjabi provinces-just to please the Army bosses.  Gen. Zia a Punjabi was known to maintain a hotline with Chief Justice Anwar-Haq during the trial. Justice Anwar-ul-Haq had gone out of his professional way in the hope that Gen Zia would nominate him as a Pakistani candidate for the post of a judge of the world court. But he did not know what bad name he had earned in the world for the butchery of justice in his own country.

The judges in Pakistan have always acted as the hand-made of the Generals, but in the Bhutto’s case they broke all limits.  It will be good for Pakistan’s democracy and judiciary if Gilani plucks courage and orders reopening of the Bhutto’s trial and execution.

In Bangladesh, the Pakistan Army, which, was led by Gen Yahya Khan, ruled the country, showed an inexplicable sadism.  The Army first allowed thousands of Bengalis to die due to the 1970 cyclone.  They Army did not help the cyclone-affected people.
In December that year Gen Yahya Khan held Pakistani’s first elections on adult franchise thus allowed East Pakistan (Now Bangladesh) which has much larger population than had West Pakistan (now Pakistan), to win  these elections without any plans to honour the election results.

Looking back it appears the elections were meant to provoke Bengali uprising against the military’s denial to pass over political power to them.  The uprising gave the military a chance to try to annihilate the Bengali race in East Pakistan and abandon this province, one thousand miles away from West Pakistan, as per Ayub Khan’s plan.  The appointment of Gen Yahya Khan, a known drunkard and womanizer, as the Army Chief-cum-President at the most crucial time in the history of Pakistan could not be without a diabolic design.  Gen Ayub Khan stepped down from Presidentship in March 1969 saying: “I do not want to preside over the disintegration of Pakistan.” In other words he was assigning this job to Gen Yahya Khan.  And Gen Yahya Khan appointed an equally irresponsible and debauch General as (Lt Gen AAK Niazi) head of Eastern Command.

If the 1971 war crimes are investigated the world will know if the killing of 3 million Bengalis was meant to quell the uprising or the Pakistan Army had other designs.  Also, it will bring out the anti-Bengali former supporters of the Pakistani Army, still secretly operating in Bangladesh.

Similarly, if the Bhutto’s trial is reopened it will be known if only Bhutto was the target of the Army or its game was much beyond him. In any case, one fact cannot be denied; by ousting Bengalis and eliminating Bhutto the Army has entrusted its unchallenged domination of Pakistan.