SC suspends transfer of trusts ownership to Benazirs heirs

The Supreme Court Appellate Bench suspended the Federal Shariat Court’s verdict of transferring the ownership of Peoples Foundation Trust to the heirs of Benazir Bhutto.The cabinet division will control the trust until the ultimate verdict.A five-member Supreme Court Appellate Bench, headed by Justice Tariq Pervez, heard the petition and reversed the Federal Shariat Court’s decision in a provisional verdict. The trust was founded by late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1974 with the financial support of the UAE and nominated Nusrat Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and Mir Murtaza Bhutto as its trusties.In 1977, by orders of the then chief martial law administrator, Gen Ziaul Haq, the government had taken over control of the trust and was renamed as Sheikh Sultan Trust and replaced the board of trusties.Later, upon the appeal of Benazir Bhutto, the Federal Shariat Court reversed the decision and declared the 1977 martial law orders as repugnant to Islam and directed the government and its ministries and divisions to return the ownership, properties and assets of the government-controlled trust to the heirs of Benazir and Nusrat Bhutto. Ghinwa Bhutto, her daughter Fatima and son Zulfikar-Junior (the widow and children of Mir Murtaza Bhutto) filed a petition, stating that they have legal rights of ownership in this trust also.The court adjourned the hearing of the case by the second week of June.