New 58/2B with judiciary: Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister and Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said Wednesday that the new 58/2B was with the judiciary.

Admitting in the National Assembly that it was his government’s mistake to approve the 19th Amendment, he said the prime minister and law minister of that time were threatened with revocation of the 18th Amendment if the demand was not accepted.

“I accept on the floor of the house that getting intimidated by the threat was our mistake. We should have never passed the 19th Amendment. We should have told the court of that time to go home if it did not accept the Constitution of Pakistan,” he said. Bilawal said it did not matter to him whether Hamza Shehbaz was made Chief Minister of Punjab or Pervaiz Elahi, but it could not be the case that there were two Pakistans or constitutions instead of one.

“It cannot be the case that the Supreme Court orders disqualification of members on party head’s directions but later changes its perspective and favours parliamentary party leader,” he said.

He said there were different constitutions for them and the ‘laadla’.

“Sins and violations of the Constitution carried out in the past decades by adopting a neutral stance for one day,” he said.

He said Prime Minister Shehbaz could not magically change whatever destruction had taken place in the past four years.

“The time has come for the formation of a joint parliamentary committee with the Senate and National Assembly of Pakistan, including representatives of the government and opposition, to legislate and decide how many judges should sit and decide,” he said and proposed the formation of a parliamentary committee on judicial reforms.

“The PPP is ready for judicial reforms and this is unfinished agenda of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto’s Charter of Democracy,” he said.

He said everyone, including the courts, knew the role of the PPP when it comes to the Constitution. “Who can tell us what should be done when it comes to the Constitution,” he said.

The foreign minister said the opposition of that time unfortunately was perhaps content with such judicial actions. “We were a coalition government,” he said, adding that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had a two-thirds majority.

He said once again the decisions on the Constitution were taking place elsewhere. “It is the opinion of a lot of people that the role of the courts at the time was not appropriate,” he said. A prime minister with a two-thirds majority was sent home, he could not even be his party’s president. “His senators were forcefully made to stand as independents,” he said.

At the time of the general elections of 2018, he said the role played by certain judges was apparent as they were participating in a campaign. “This house should see, be it the 2018 or by-elections, what apolitical individuals were doing,” he said.

Bilawal said at the time of the 2018 elections “former chief justice Saqib Nisar was running a campaign against us, he would make a speech against us in Larkana, slap a judge, give lecture in Karachi.”

“When the re-polling of our candidate, Faisal Saleh Hayat. who had won, was taking place, Nisar went to his opponent. This is a controversial role,” he said.

The PPP chairman said that the Supreme Court of Pakistan made a decision Tuesday as it was faced with an important constitutional, administrative and political issue. He said all the political parties had one demand and that was the formation of a full court.

“We did not name any Xs or Ys as an attempt to pressure any institution. We did not threaten to divide Pakistan,” he said.

He said when one institution was deciding about another.

He said when the previous government had abrogated the Constitution and tried to sabotage the no-confidence, my request to the Supreme Court was the same.

He said when such issues were dealt with a full bench needed to be made.

“It was not made then and not made Tuesday,” he said.

Bilawal questioned that why was it important for a full court to decide in such a situation. “The answer to this is that our judiciary is responsible for defining the Constitution of Pakistan,” he said.

He said it took 30 years to make the Constitution and Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and all the political parties of the time had unanimously drafted it.

The foreign minister said Shaheed Benazir Bhutto had embraced martyrdom for this very purpose.

“We take pride in the fact that we restored the 1973 Constitution to the assembly of 2008-2013 and also filtered black laws that were the remnants of a dictator and made the 18th Amendment,” he said.

After such a historic success, he said we took all dictatorial powers from president and gave it to this house.

He said the president had the power to send a government packing whenever he wished through 58/2 B.

“We signed the Charter of Democracy so that this house could run, the Supreme Court could be free, all provinces of the country could get their rights and the people of Pakistan could be liberated, along with media,” he said. Bilawal said a nexus was then made to look for ways to have the country regress again, and run a controlled democracy.

The foreign minister said when we were struggling to curb terrorism in 2008-2013, address economic and democratic crises, the mandate of the people, democracy and this parliament was attacked daily. He said the PPP workers had struggled for the chief justice of that time Iftikhar Chaudhry and the jiyalas of Gujjar Khan welcomed him and the jiyalas of Karachi faced bullets for him.

“The same chief justice had made decisions against parliament and democracy that were neither based on the Constitution, nor the law. I am witness as to how, not even for a moment, the PM or the government of the time attacked the Supreme Court,” he said.

The PPP chairman asked what was left of the COD. “It were judicial reforms that we had promised and those judicial reforms revolve around the formation of constitutional courts that were to decide regarding the Constitution and appointment of judges, which would not be in the hands of a judge but of the house. We made an amendment in which the house along with judicial representatives would collectively appoint judges.”

Bilawal said then we saw the role of our institutions from 2018 till April. “It was on record that our institutions had been playing a controversial role. Be it our establishment or judiciary, they should play a constitutional role,” he said. He said their role should not be controversial and this was the reason that we had advised for a full court to be formed.

He said it was the responsibility of the house to defend the role of parliament. “Our duty is to make the Constitution and theirs is to interpret it.”

The foreign minister said it was not their duty to amend the Constitution. “It cannot happen that we sacrifice our lives, struggle for 30 years and then have someone change the Constitution with the stroke of a pen.” He said the journey of Pakistan as a democratic country would be incomplete as long as this remains unaddressed and judicial reforms were not made and judiciary was not empowered.

“Just as the judiciary had decided that the prime minister would need the approval of the cabinet, in the same way, the Supreme Court of Pakistan is not just the Chief Justice of Pakistan, it is each and every member of the Supreme Court,” he said.