Zardari urges end to sacred cow syndrome

ISLAMABAD: Former president and Pakistan Peoples Party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has called for across-the-board accountability while protecting the Constitution at all costs.

In his message for the 88th birth anniversary of PPP patriarch Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the former president vowed not to allow any individual or institution to usurp the power that belongs to the people.



“The PPP will not permit the fanatics to usurp that power in the name of religion,” PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar quoted Zardari as saying.

Shunning selective accountability, the PPP supremo said sacred cow syndrome and double standards are the worst forms of corruption which must be resisted.

Bhutto gave the country a unanimous Constitution. It envisages that the power to make or amend the Constitution and laws on behalf of the people rests with parliament and parliament alone, Zardari emphasised in his message.

The judiciary has the powers to review laws made by parliament but it cannot make laws on its own. And the executive has to implement those laws without interference, he said.

The PPP leader reiterated that his party believes corruption is a scourge that must be eliminated. However, he said that for far too long only political leaders have been subjected to trials in the name of corruption.



In a veiled reference to the judiciary, the PPP leader said those who validated takeover by dictators and undermined national security through non-state actors must also be held accountable.

He urged people, particularly the youth, to study the political philosophy of the country’s first directly elected prime minister.

“Bhutto believed power belongs to the people,” the PPP leader stated. “Today we reiterate our pledge we will not allow any individual or institution to usurp the power that belongs to the people and people alone,” Zardari said praising his party patriarch.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 5^th, 2016.