Daily Times

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Saturday said the federation is in danger as smaller provinces are annoyed over the politics of the ‘contractors’ of the country.

“PPP always strengthened the smaller provinces and gave them autonomy through 18th Amendment but attempts are being made to roll back that historical legislation,” the PPP chairman said while addressing party workers, members of Punjab Bar Council and Pakistan Bar Council and a large number of people hailing from the legal fraternity at the Lahore High Court Bar at an event organized by the People’s Lawyers Forum to mark the 91st birth anniversary of former prime minister and PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Bilawal was to attend the event personally but couldn’t reach Lahore due to bad weather and addressed the participants through video link from Islamabad.

In his address, Bilawal said the country will now only be ruled according to the 1973 constitution given by his grandfather. “We’ll never compromise on the supremacy of the constitution as both my mother and grandfather sacrificed their lives for the sake of this very constitution,” he said.

Bilawal said the judicial murder of the first elected prime minister of Pakistan is a stain on the entire system. He said the forces of status quo conspired to physically eliminate the late Bhutto but his legacy still lives on even after four decades while the judges who sent him to the gallows have been thrown in the dustbin of history. He termed the late Bhutto a victim of great miscarriage of the judicial system.

“The last year witnessed the general elections that were stolen and manipulated as some political parties weren’t provided the level-playing field,” Bilawal said, and added that the PPP will issue a white paper on the last elections very soon. He said the manipulators of 2018 elections will be exposed one day because nothing remains secret in the annals of the history. “Who will hold those manipulators accountable who have stolen the votes of the people?” he asked. “There should be no sacred cows when it comes to the process of accountability. The wheels of judiciary stop when it comes to the Asghar Khan case,” he said while urging a uniform anti-corruption law for all.

Bilawal claimed that the JIT report in fake accounts case was leaked by the investigators themselves to hold a media trial of the PPP. “The report of JIT is just a finding and it’s not binding on the courts,” he added.

“I received a notice right after my speech at Gilgilt-Baltistan public gathering. Then I received a questionnaire after my Sukkur rally, and I was placed on the ECL when I delivered a speech at the death anniversary of my mother in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh,” Bilawal said, while terming the ongoing process of accountability as mere witch-hunting. Bilawal said he is being asked questions related to the time when he was just one year old. “I even never held any public office,” he said.

Defending both Qaim Ali Shah (former Sindh chief minister) and Murad Ali Shah (incumbent chief minister), Bilawal said they have never been accused of corruption. “They have been denied the right to fair trial as they were never called by the JIT,” he said.

Bilawal said there is dire need to bring reforms in the judicial system, especially in the subordinate judiciary, because people have to wait for years to get justice. “The PPP will continue fighting for the supremacy of constitution and will not let Pakistan be sent into the dark ages,” he vowed.

He said the incumbent government which came into power by stealing the mandate of the people doesn’t have capacity to deliver as its focus is only on blaming the previous governments.

Published in Daily Times, January 6^th 2019.