Bilawal demands judicial reforms

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Thursday that time had come for introducing judicial reforms in the country following the Supreme Court’s opinion that the conviction of party founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the late 1970s was the result of mistrial.

Addressing party workers and supporters at an Iftar in Larkana district on the occasion of 45th death anniversary of the late Bhutto, Bilawal announced that the PPP would ask the federal government to undertake such reforms.

In response to a presidential reference filled more than a decade ago, the Supreme Court on March 6 observed that the trial in the murder case against former prime minister Bhutto did not meet the requirements of a “fair trial and due process”.

“It is time to initiate judicial reforms. The PPP will ask the federal government to undertake these reforms,” the PPP chairman told the gathering. “We want to provide speedy justice to the people. We want to fulfil our promise,” he added.

The PPP chairman recalled that his mother and former prime minister late Benazir Bhutto had made the judicial reforms an integral part of the Charter of Democracy (CoD), which was signed with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif in May 2006.

In collaboration with the PML-N, Bilawal claimed, 90% of the CoD had been implemented, including the restoration of the 1973 Constitution in its original form and giving rights to the provinces. “Any work that is left undone, so far, is the part pertaining to the judicial reforms,” he said.

He pointed out that the apex court had acknowledged that a “historic crime occurred” in the conviction and hanging his grandfather. “I think [Bhutto’s conviction] is a big stain on our judiciary and on its history, which we need to ‘correct’ for which we will have to step forward to [start] judicial reforms.”
The PPP chairman suggested that his party, which is an ally of the PML-N government at the Centre, would take measures in parliament to fulfil the promise of reforms made in the CoD.

“We should bring changes in the Constitution and in the law… so that we can provide justice to the people of Pakistan.”

Bilawal told the gathering that the April 4 public meeting on Bhutto’s death anniversary had been postponed because of Ramazan, adding that a historic public meeting would be held on April 14 at the mausoleum of the Bhuttos in Garhi Khuda Bukhsh.

Speaking about the general elections, Bilawal said that the PPP was not given a clear majority; therefore, the party preferred to support the PML-N to form the federal government. He reiterated that continuity of democracy and prevailing economic hardships in the country motivated them to take that decision.

He said that he had asked Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and his cabinet ministers to hold public meetings in all the districts of Sindh to take the people’s input regarding the provincial budget for the fiscal 2024-25.