Parliament under attack from within, without, claims Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has termed illegal, unconstitutional and attack on the Parliament the directives of National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar stopping standing committees to hold meetings when the NA is not in session.

“The PTI’s fascist government wants that parliament is made redundant and it is an attack on the parliament from within. Those who attack the parliament from container in 2014 are now attacking the Parliament from within,” he said while addressing a press conference here Tuesday at Zardari House.

PPP Secretary General Syed Nayyer Hussain Bokhari, Parliamentary Leader in the Senate Senator Sherry Rehman, PPP Parliamentarians Secretary General Farhatullah babar and PPP Central Punjab Secretary General Chaudhry Manzoor were present on the occasion.

Bilawal told Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani to resign as he was a candidate of joint opposition which now has changed and wants to bring another consensus candidate. He said it is ironic that a person who claims that he is not afraid of death is afraid of production orders. He said the NA Speaker is making the House dysfunctional by stopping the standing committees from functioning in the name of austerity. “How it is possible to hold meetings of 35 standing committees in 10 rooms available for the purpose,” he said.

He said standing committees set the ground work for the House so the Speaker seems totally ignorant of their importance. “At the time when this decision is announced both Speaker and Deputy Speaker are out of country either to play cricket or watch the cricket on the official expenses,” he said adding that without the functions of Standing Committees the parliament is incomplete.

He said the Standing Committees do all the preparations for legislations but the “PTI’s fascist government” wants that parliament is made redundant. “This is an attack on the parliament from within,” he said.

He said the Standing Committees of Senate are functional whereas the Standing Committees of National Assembly have been made dysfunctional. “Functioning of Standing Committees cannot be stopped according to law,” he said.

Bilawal demanded of the NA Speaker to withdraw his decision. “The fascist government should also realise that cricket matches and running the affairs of country are two entirely different things,” he said.

He said the system that was conceived by the Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Zulifiqar Ali Bhutto is the parliamentary system for making decision in the best interest of the country through consensus.

He said the PTI’s “fascist government” is pushing democratic elements to take emotional steps and forcing the country towards anarchy. He said that interviews of Ehsanullah Ehsan, Indian spy, Indian pilot and Gen (R) Pervez Musharraf can be aired but the interviews of the youth from Waziristan and former president cannot be aired. This is because press is not free today and facing censorship, he said.

Bilawal said freedom of press had become 'non-existent' under the incumbent government. He expressed his concerns over the increasing censorship in Pakistan and said that the “fascist system” is not allowing the media to operate independently. “You can’t even tweet now because your account could be deactivated,” Bilawal said. He said three channels have been taken off air which is highly condemnable. “Now several journalists are not able to use twitter because their twitter accounts can be closed,” he said adding that “freedom is our basic right and we will fight for these rights till the end”.

He said the PPP will fight for freedom of press and expression till last. “Though the PPP has always been soft target but the PPP never follows the traditions of either PTI and PML-N and it is in the better interest of the country that the media remains free, be it criticise the PPP. Every Pakistani should have a right to express his opinion independently and freely. Our media has freedom that it shows the opinion of every one and we continue to fight for the right of expression,” he said.

He said the opposition has decided to bring a consensus chairman Senate and the opposition parties have taken a step and all the PPP senators have signed it. “I think that it will be better that chairman Senate, whom I respect, should resign from his post,” he said. He said when the PPP brought Sanjrani as a candidate the situation was different but now the situation is different and now the opposition wanted to bring a consensus candidate.

Bilawal said economic situation of Pakistan is just getting worse every passing day. “We even offered to cooperate on the economic situation but it was not considered,” he maintained adding that the public-enemy budget was approved due to rigging in the House.

The PPP chairman said that the government has totally surrendered before IMF and this PTIMF budget has made the lives of the people hell. “Every Pakistani is suffering due to price hike but PPP will come out against this fascist government,” he said.

He said the government has damaged the country and raised taxes, adding it seems breathing will also be taxed. He said the government has surrendered economic sovereignty to the IMF.

He said the PP was resisting attacks on the system and democracy and was fighting against those who were attacking the system. He said the government has to correct its attitude, withdraw its anti-people budget and go on the path of democracy.

On the video of the AC judge, he said the high court should look into the matter and decide if the verdict was given under pressure. Bilawal said he did not think that Maryam Nawaz held the press conference against the judiciary but it mentioned act of a specific judge and specific case.

He said the PPP has given the statement in which the demand was made to the superior judiciary to look into that case. “The PPP was of the view that the decision which was given under pressure. Judicial murder of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was carried out. The judiciary has to address the controversy and many other controversies,” he said.

He said remedial measures are needed to ensure independence of judiciary and to ensure that justice is not only done but also seen to be done. He said former president had sent the reference on the judicial murder and even he also went into the court for it. He said the system will not run without the judicial reforms. He ruled out bring the consensus candidate for Senate chairman with the PTI, saying the PTI do not want to run either the NA or the Senate.