Replug: Two journalists, one confession

That judiciary’s role was controversial in 1979 is beyond doubt. Nasim Hasan Shah, who was one of the judges in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s case, has gone on record to share his regret. 

Suhail Warraich, a senior journalist interviewed him in 1996 for Jang magazine where he expressed his regrets about the case for the first time. A portion of the interview, now part of Warraich’s book Adlia Key Arooj-o-zawal Ki Kihani, reads as follows:

"Bhutto’s death sentence was a judicial murder, what do you think about that?"

"I don’t think so. It is only a political statement."

"Do we have any other example in Pakistan of a person being hanged on the basis of advice?"

"No never…During the case, there was a view that Bhutto was not directly involved in the murder but FSF did it on his advice. During the hearing of the case, I asked Yayha Bakhtiar if he wanted to argue for remission of his punishment but he refused. Later this became a major issue in the review petition. In my personal view, Bhutto’s punishment could have been reduced…"

In reply to another question, "Was there any pressure on judges?"he said "Justice Haleem was under pressure. We had different kinds of pressures. His only son lived in Karachi. He said that his life is in danger and he was very scared… basically, what could the poor judges do? There was one witness testimony after the other. "

"Couldn’t you have been more kind to Bhutto as he was ex-prime minister?"

"The sentiments at that time are different and one has to do what one has to do."

Justice Nasim Hasan Shah

Justice Nasim Hasan Shah later made similar confessions on camera, on Geo’s show Jawab De, hosted by Iftikhar Ahmed. He said that military dictatorships remove judges; therefore, the judiciary is answerable to them, unlike civilian governments. "People think that judges should get into a sword fight and perish the military. However, the military can remove the judges, while people do nothing."

TNS discussed this episode with Iftikhar Ahmed. "I did not plan to extract this confession," he says. "We, however, knew that Nasim Hasan Shah lamented his decision in private gatherings and had said this on record too, but never on camera."

On being asked if this recording could serve as evidence when the Bhutto case is re-opened, he said it depended on the lawyers defending Bhutto.

The following is an excerpt from the televised interview:

Iftikhar Ahmed: Is there an example in Pakistani judicial history where someone was hanged because of a conspiring role?

Nasim Hasan Shah: I don’t think this was a conspiring role. He ordered his subordinates to kill Raza Kasuri…

IA: Imagine I am a criminal and I say that I don’t trust you and don’t expect you to be fair to me. What should you do as a judge?

NHS: It depends on what reasoning you present…

IA: I am talking about Maulvi Mushtaq. This is what he was told by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

NHS: Yes. I think this was unfair of him [Maulvi Mushtaq]. He was an amazing person but an enemy of Bhutto and he should not have sat on the bench.

IA: You have stated your personal opinion that during the hearings of the Bhutto case, the punishment could have been reduced and that the case was very strong….?

NHS: Yes,

IA: You could’ve given a dissenting note?

NHS: It could have been done but his lawyer’s argument was that he didn’t care about the punishment. We had some limitations and Yahya Bakhtiar had stubbornness, which annoyed us.

This piece was previously published in The News.