Addressing Sindh High Court Bar Association, PPP chief says legislation cannot be done via court
\n Karachi
\nPakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has categorically said that the formation of the constitutional court is compulsory and his party will ensure its formation come what may.
\nAddressing the Sindh High Court Bar Association on Tuesday, the PPP chief said that 19th constitutional amendment was introduced under duress \u201cfollowing a threat from the Supreme Court\u201d.
\n\u201cThe judicial reforms would be undertaken in line with the Charter of Democracy (COD) come what may,\u201d he vowed. The government pushed the proposed constitutional package amid speculation about a potential extension in the tenure of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, who is set to retire in October this year, following the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf\u2019s (PTI) request last month for the early issuance of a notification regarding the appointment of the next top judge.
\nBilawal continued that the parliament had replaced the judges\u2019 appointment procedure with a globally recognised law via 18th amendment. \u201cIn the United States, entire parliament decides on the appointment of judges that is why martial law is never imposed in the US,\u201d he added.
\nTerming the ex-premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto\u2019s death sentence a \u201cjudicial murder\u201d, Bilawal said that it was \u201cnecessary and also our compulsion\u201d to establish a constitutional court so no other prime minister could be executed and justice would be served to the people.
\nHe came down hard on military rulers and said that her mother Benazir Bhutto had seen the military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq\u2019s era in which all political workers went through brutal torture.
\nThe politico recalled: \u201cShaheed Benazir knew that our system was broken. At that time, [former chief justice] Iftikhar Chaudhry was not a revolutionary but a PCO judge.\u201d \u201c[\u2026] nor there was any \u2018dam wala judge,\u2019\u201d Bilawal said while referring to ex-CJP Mian Saqib Nisar without naming him.
\nHe said that a decision was taken to form a constitutional court citing the need of the people to get justice \u201cwhen courts were fixing the prices of pakora and tomatoes at that time\u201d.
\nDespite claims of securing the \u201cmagic number\u201d needed to push the bill through, the government failed to table the judiciary-centric amendments \u2014 possibly including the establishment of a separate constitutional court \u2014 in parliament and postponed its move indefinitely.
\nTo pass the constitutional amendments, the government is short of 13 votes in the National Assembly (NA) and nine in the Senate.
\nTo attain the required parliamentary strength for passing the judicial package, the ruling coalition parties \u2014 the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) \u2014 held a flurry of meetings to woo Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, but to no avail.
\nThe ruling coalition is inclined towards the politico-religious party as it remained a close ally of both parties in the previous government led by the Pakistan Democratic Movement.
\nThis multi-party party alliance successfully ousted former premier Imran Khan from office via a no-confidence motion in 2022.
\nHowever, the JUI-F chief, whose party\u2019s lawmakers are now sitting on the opposition benches, had rejected the constitutional package introduced by the incumbent government, alleging that it aimed at protecting the coalition government and would disturb the balance of power among state institutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Addressing Sindh High Court Bar Association, PPP chief says legislation cannot be done via court Karachi Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has categorically said that the formation of the constitutional court is compulsory and his party will ensure its formation come what may. Addressing the Sindh High Court Bar Association on Tuesday, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-433268","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n