Qureshi warns Bilawal against supporting constitutional amendment

ISLAMABAD: PTI senior leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi Thursday penned a letter to the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari cautioning him against supporting the proposed constitutional amendment. 

The PTI leader wrote the letter from Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail under the title ‘Let the constitution agreed to since 1973 not be set on fire by Bhutto’s lamp’.

He asked Bilawal not to impose the 26th Amendment without consent of the parliament.

Qureshi said he did doubt Bilawal Bhutto’s intention.

“I am aware of his commitment to democracy, but the nation is looking at the timing of this constitutional amendment with suspicion,” he wrote.

He called upon the PPP chairman to listen to the civil society and the large part of the lawyers’ community in a conciliatory manner.

“We are seriously concerned about the independent judiciary,” he maintained.

Qureshi said the establishment of Constitutional Court without consultation of the Parliament and all stakeholders would be equivalent to a PCO court and the judges would be called PCO judges.

Acknowledging the services of the former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, he said Bhutto had shown patience and flexibility and gave a consensus constitution to the nation.

However, he warned Bilawal Bhutto that any amendment without

consultation will not only undermine the independence of the judiciary but also weaken the federation.

“I am sure that you will not want this at all, as it took time to approve the 18th Amendment.

You should not take out the funeral of justice; this is a suggestion of a prisoner of Kot Lakhpat Jail, who has worked with your mother for democracy,” Qureshi wrote.