New form of dictatorship, fascism imposed in Naya Pakistan, says Bilawal

LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that in the name of Naya Pakistan, a new form of dictatorship has been imposed in the country.

Speaking at a function held by the Lahore High Court Bar Association, the PPP chairman said: “Unfortunately, our country has fallen prey to dictatorships in the past and dictators trampled down the Constitution that caused an unamendable loss to democracy. General Ziaul Haq had suspended the Constitution, sent judges home and scripted the judicial murder of then elected prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

He said Zulfikar Ali Bhutto gave the country the 1973 Constitution which provided a parliamentary form of government wherein the parliament was made supreme and the executive was subservient to the prime minister. He said he is still awaiting justice in the murder case of first elected woman prime minister Benazir Bhutto, hoping that justice would be done and the real culprits punished. He, however, regretted that the country could not enjoy complete democracy after the untimely demise of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

He recalled that the PPP formed government thrice against all odds and served people who, according to him, never accepted the judicial murder of ZAB. Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari were implicated in false cases as not a single allegation was proved against them. The Asghar Ali Khan case exposed a conspiracy hatched to keep the PPP at bay.

Appreciating the role of the bar association, he said lawyers always fought against dictatorship. “We have to jointly fight against the new kind of dictatorship in the country,” he said and added women are still deprived of their basic rights in Naya Pakistan and sexually-exploited victims are looking for justice despite promulgation of laws on gender discrimination and sexual harassment.

He regretted that in the past, the chief justices of Pakistan used suo motu powers for political purposes and demanded that a right of appeal should be given to the aggrieved party against the decisions in suo motu cases. He said the number of women judges in the superior judiciary should be increased, adding that during the PPP government in 1994, five women judges were appointed to high courts, but, unfortunately, none of them was elevated to the Supreme Court of Pakistan due to gender discrimination. He supported the demand regarding the restoration of student unions in educational institutions, saying it is part of the PPP manifesto.

He said censorship has been imposed on the media and there is no freedom of speech in the country. Attacks on human and democratic rights are going on.

Bilawal said the Lahore High Court is part of the crime scene of Bhutto Shaheed’s judicial murder. The nation is still awaiting justice in the cases of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto. “We expect justice from the judiciary even today.” He said that the first target of dictatorial forces is always the rule of law. “We fought the dictatorships of Ayub, Zia, Yahya and Musharraf “with the bars on our side”. The Lahore High Court Bar Association is a bar that has served as the vanguard in the struggle against dictators.

The PPP chairman said democracy in Pakistan is connected with the freedom of expression of human rights. A lawyer, Quaid-i-Azam, struggled and won Pakistan. Unfortunately, his untimely demise caused Pakistan to be without a constitution for decades. Another lawyer, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, gave Pakistan its first constitution on 14th August, 1973. It was due to immense struggle by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto that the parliament was made the country’s supreme institution. The most popular prime minister was assassinated by a fraud judicial process. Ziaul Haq jailed and killed thousands of PPP workers. Political activists and lawyers were court-martialed. The entire aim of Zia and Musharraf’s dictatorships was to break the Constitution and corrupt the country’s institutions and systems. The PPP government always struggled for and maintained the dominance of the Constitution and the parliament. He said that in the past, certain judges had sullied their offices by taking dictation from the PPP’s opponents . A judicial reference against Bhutto’s murder is still pending in the court today, he added.

He said: “I ask the bar and the bench to give justice to Bhutto Shaheed. If even Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto do not get justice, where would the common man go?” He said the bar and the bench should review the mechanisms of appealing against suo motu decisions. The PPP wants women judges to be in the higher judiciary as well.

Of the 106 high court judges, only six are female judges. Access to justice is the cornerstone of the rule of law. Access to justice for the marginalized should be made possible, he said, adding that justice for the victims of sexual violence should be dispensed speedily. “Under the current selected, imposed government, we are witnessing a neo-dictatorship.”

He Pakistan is in the throes of fascism and our fundamental rights are being ripped away. “The current regime has picked up where Zia and Musharraf left off, and let us be very clear, they will not stop”, deplored Bilawal. He urged people to join his struggle for the economic and democratic rights of people.