Says the bill will make a part of history in future | Claims IK’s policies brought back terrorism to Pakistan
ISLAMABAD
Minister for Foreign Affairs Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday said ex-Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Chaudhry imposed “judicial dictatorship” in the country that was aimed at sabotaging the democracy and installing hybrid regime.
Addressing the National Assembly session debating the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023, he said the country was in the grips of several issues at this time adding that people were facing a historic financial crisis.
“An incompetent Prime Minister was imposed on the country who pushed the country towards crises”, he added. Russia-Ukraine war, he said, had some impacts.
The PPP chairman said that the armed forces and the nation wiped out the menace of terrorism from Pakistan but the former prime minister Imran Khan decided that he will forgive the APS terrorists and he then released them from jails
He said the incompetent and selected PM pardoned and released these terrorists and brought them to KPK and former tribal territories in flocks of thousands. The people of the tribal areas rendered huge sacrifices to face these terrorists courageously. Just as the tribal areas were starting to progress, this incompetent former PM decided to bring these terrorists from Afghanistan.
“It is unfortunate that we are also witnessing the resurfacing of terrorist outlets that had earlier been driven out, such as the TTP, Majeed Brigade and BLA. The very same PM who led the country to the brink of default, allowed for the nation to be engulfed in the flames of terror,” he remarked.
He maintained that the anti-democratic forces started the hybrid war when the Charter of Democracy was signed. Character assassination of a politician was going on at that time through the media. Bilawal Bhutto added that the former chief justice was also part of this hybrid war.
He went on to say that the country also encountered historic natural disaster adding that the country’s one-third of land was inundated. “Even today the people of Sindh and Balochistan are combatting the problems caused by the disaster”, he added.
The Foreign Minister said the purpose of all the forces coming to the same page was to bring “selected” [Imran Khan] back [to the Prime Minister’s office]. “They don’t know what will happen next but the legislation we are working on today will become a part of the history in the future”, he added.
Currently, he said, Pakistan and its people are facing a multitude of challenges simultaneously, part of which is owed to a former Prime Minister Imran Khan who took it upon himself to destroy the country’s economy.
The Covid-19 pandemic’s devastating impact as well as the conflict between Ukraine and Russia has added to the quagmire. In the midst of all this, Pakistan has faced one of the most severe climate catastrophes experienced by the region, resulting in the submersion of one-third of the country underwater. The people are bearing the brunt of this disaster till date. He maintained that if the Speaker and the President had abrogated the constitution in response to the no-confidence motion, the PM should proceed against them.
“The apex court violated the constitution in the leadership of former CJP Saqib Nisar adding that which law allowed him to raise funds for dams”, he added. They interpreted the constitution, he said, according to their will and break the constitution while issuing verdicts.
“We believe that PM Gillani was disqualified as a result of an undemocratic decision made under the control of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The judiciary was accused of playing a controversial role in 2018 elections, that too was under the control of Chief Justice Saqib Nisar.
The Constitution was made to be abrogated by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. As per what law does the Chief Justice have the authority to make a dam fund? How could the Chief Justice of Pakistan go on trips abroad and collect money? If someone wishes to hand over the Punjab government to the opposition, then they do so by abrogating the Constitution in their judgement,” said Bilawal.
Bilawal Bhutto said they [the PPP government] gave an identity to the KP through the NFC award adding the question of who was responsible for the present crisis.
“Just as we signed the Charter of Democracy, restored democracy and the 18th Amendment along with giving KP its identity and the provinces their rights through the NFC Award, undemocratic forces began a hybrid war against this democratic consensus among the political parties,” he said.
“Why did General Hameed Gul bring Imran Khan into politics in 1996? Then, the role of General Pasha, General Zaheer-ul-Islam and General Faiz Hameed is before the people to see. They were all involved in the hybrid war against the democratic system of the country. Iftikhar Chaudhary laid the basis of the dictatorial role of the Chief Justice, the very monopoly that is being raised as a concern today by the court’s own judges.
He too was part of the hybrid war, that began as anti-PPP but had deep-rooted aims, which revolved around abolishing the 18th Amendment and ridiculing democracy. The faces of all these figures in the war kept changing, from Iftikhar Chaudhary, Pasha to Zaheer-ul-Islam to Faiz Hameed.
One constant remained through all this and that is Imran Khan. This cricketer was brought into politics by our establishment and the institutions of the country were involved in creating this Frankenstein of theirs for the past three decades. This happens time and again as certain ‘Einsteins’ in our institutions gather and come up with strategic assets that eventually make our lives difficult,” he said.
The Pakistan Peoples Party’s tradition and legacy is to play clean politics. However, it cannot be allowed for the Constitution to be abrogated and ridiculed with influential figures involved. The visceral reaction and polarisation in the society is not in answer to our no-confidence motion but something else.
“Former COAS Gen (retd) Bajwa, he said, accepted that the army meddled with politics. He said that the former army chief revealed in an interview that the establishment used to involve in the political matter but now they don’t interfere in those matters.
“Our former Army Chief himself said that the establishment used to interfere in politics in the past but that this would be discontinued. A parallel structure has been constructed in the country for 70 years. There is a distinct political class that has no future in politics. If the establishment and the undemocratic powers stop meddling in politics, then it would have no future as it only flourishes in dictatorial regimes.
There must be some logic behind why the descendant of every dictator that has been imposed in the country are in the PTI. There can be no political future of the son of a dictator, they can win no election on their own. They can only have a political future in a selected rule,” Bilawal said.
He said Quaid-e-Awam, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had advocated for the idea of unity and it is still applicable to the current situation. “We might still have to sit together, even with those whose faces we are not particularly fond of, for the sake of the Pakistan as it is our country,” he remarked. — DNA
