Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has categorically said that the formation of the constitutional court is compulsory and his party will ensure its formation come what may.
Addressing the Sindh High Court Bar Association on Tuesday, the PPP chief said that 19th constitutional amendment was introduced under duress “following a threat from the Supreme Court”.
“The judicial reforms would be undertaken in line with the Charter of Democracy (COD) come what may,” he vowed.Play Video
The government pushed the proposed constitutional package amid speculation about a potential extension in the tenure of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, who is set to retire in October this year, following the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) request last month for the early issuance of a notification regarding the appointment of the next top judge.
Bilawal continued that the parliament had replaced the judges’ appointment procedure with a globally recognised law via 18th amendment. “In the United States, entire parliament decides on the appointment of judges that is why martial law is never imposed in the US,” he added.
Terming the ex-premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s death sentence a “judicial murder”, Bilawal said that it was “necessary and also our compulsion” to establish a constitutional court so no other prime minister could be executed and justice would be served to the people.
He came down hard on military rulers and said that her mother Benazir Bhutto had seen the military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq’s era in which all political workers went through brutal torture.
