KARACHI: Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has announced to introduce an amendment to bring the judges under the purview of NAB accountability, saying that a dual system cannot run in the country.
Different laws for the common man and ‘sacred cows’ won’t work as it could not be acceptable that if there is a Prime Minister from Larkana then hang him and if the Prime Minister is from Zaman Park the courts will wait for the whole day to offer him bail, he said.
Addressing a seminar organized by PPP Karachi Division in connection with the Golden Jubilee of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan, the PPP Chairman said that Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is the founder of the 1973 Constitution, for which we are proud of. This Constitution of 1973 gives citizens protection and guarantees to their rights.
Economic, political crises: Bilawal for consensus among parties on ‘common agenda’
He further said that if Pakistan is a federal country, this Constitution gives us a federal system. Pakistan is an Islamic country, then our Constitution is an Islamic constitution, and Pakistan is a country of democracy then our constitution is a democratic constitution.
Bilawal said that since the Constitution of Pakistan was passed, constant attacks were mounted against it, because some forces don’t tolerate the rights to the people. Its defacing at the hands of dictators General Zia and General Musharraf is still felt by the nation. However, there was a period from 2008 to 2013, when it appeared as if the whole society had become mature. I remember, the day when the 18th Amendment was approved, the Daily Dawn had made the headline that the politicians of Pakistan finally became mature, he added.
The PPP Chairman said that the tenure from 2008 to 2013 was a period of hope, as before that there was a lot of polarization in the country. During this period, the political parties came to the conclusion that as long as we continue to fight, the Constitution and democracy will always be in danger and the country will not progress. He further said that Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had forgotten the political victimisations of her then-opponents and pledged that we would work on Charter of Democracy (CoD).
He said that on the basis of this harmony, after coming to the government, we did not send the PML -N leaders or other opponents to jail and when the PML -N government came, they too followed the same tradition.
Calling the progress made as a result of harmony among the political parties after the CoD, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that we focused on the people of Pakistan, we passed the 18th Amendment, Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) was initiated, Northern Areas were made Gilgit–Baltistan and NWFP province was renamed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Foreign Minister said that the space for undemocratic forces was very less due to such political harmony, but then ‘selected’ was launched only to break the political harmony. Propaganda was unleashed so that the undemocratic forces could find more and more space through a proxy prime minister, who does not take any interest in the problems of the nation, does not take any interest in the Parliament, democracy and even the economy but only benefits himself and his family.
He pointed that the day he was able to remove the selected prime minister, was April 10, 2023 when our unanimous Constitution was passed in 1973.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the ‘puppet’ was brought to power because it was not just a conspiracy against the system, but a conspiracy against the Constitution under the narrative that everything has gone to the provinces. The problem of these people is not, in fact, the 18th amendment, but the Constitution of 1973, which they didn’t accept since the very first day and don’t believe even today.
He said that Imran Khan has ruined every institution. Politics has been polarised to such an extent that we cannot talk to each other.
He has divided the judiciary and the media in the same way. If you open one TV channel, you see one Pakistan and there is another Pakistan on another channel. Imran Khan has divided us so much that the establishment has also been divided. We are seeing that he is gone, but that thinking is there. Nobody knows how long the effects of this damage will continue in the country.
The PPP Chairman said that if the judicial institution will fight among them, how it will give justice to the people? It is difficult for a judge to talk to another judge. If there are two different truths on the two channels then whom to believe, he asked.
We are going through a political, constitutional and economic crisis. If we continue to fight each other, the common man will continue to suffer, he said. The most important problem of the common man is the economy, inflation, hunger, poverty and unemployment. “If we continue to fight each other, the terrorists will continue to benefit,” he added.
Bilawal said that if there were such conditions in any other country, then everyone would say that they should leave the fight and solve the problems. He emphasized that the solution to many problems facing Pakistan is in the Constitution.
‘We are still waiting today for hearing a reference about the judicial murder of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, but we do not get any response.’ But if the prime minister of Zaman Park suffers leg pain, the court waits for a week and even if the petition has a fake signature, he is granted bail.
He said that the dual system will not run and we will not tolerate it. It may not acceptable that if Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto is in power, then a single newspaper’s editorial is enough to overthrow her government, but while saving Imran Khan’s government the constitution is re-written.
The PPP Chairman said that another law is being floated that if anyone speaks against the army or the judiciary, he will be punished. How long will we continue to pass the ‘sacred cow laws’?
PPP’s position on NAB has always been clear that it was created for political engineering, he said. He questioned whether the judges do not know what NAB rules look like.
He said that whatever amendments other parties bring to the NAB law, I will submit an amendment myself that if the NAB is to be maintained, it should also apply to the judiciary, whether judges are serving or retired. Corruption is everywhere and PPP would oppose the sacred cow laws.
He paid tributes to the Jiyalas who offered sacrifices for the protection of the Constitution and democracy and pledged to defend it in the future also.
Comments
Comments are closed.