Our struggle for constitutional amendment not for current Chief Justice, Qazi Faez Isa, asserts Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

Independent Report

QUETTA: The Chairman Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP), Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has categorically stated that so far, his party had agreed to the government’s proposal for the formation of a federal constitutional court.
The Chairman PPP said that he has to fulfil the mission of his martyr mother, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto regarding the judicial reforms and constitutional courts that otherwise part of the charter of democracy (CoD) signed then.
He said that we restored the constitution through CoD and it was the objective behind the struggle waged by his martyr mother.
He said that we just want implementation on the CoD. He said that we would accept what the constitution says. He said that it is responsibility of the judiciary to follow the constitution and law. He said that over the time and experience, he learnt that how difficult is to get justice in the country.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was addressing the Balochistan High Court (BHC) Bar in Quetta on Tuesday. Also present on the occasion was the Chief Minister, Mir Sarfraz Bugti and other senior leaders of the party besides a large number of lawyers.
The Chairman PPP maintained that his party had no problem if anyone of the top two judges of the country chaired the constitutional court.
“After the struggle of 30 years, we have decided to form a constitutional court,” he said, adding his struggle for the constitutional amendment was not for the current chief justice, Qazi Faez Isa. “Your agenda could be a person-specific, not mine,” he added.
Expressing a profound respect for Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, he asked if he would accept the constitutional court, if the constitution said so.
The government last month pushed the proposed constitutional package amid speculation about a potential extension in the tenure of Chief Justice Isa, who is set to retire in October this year, following the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) request in August for the early issuance of a notification regarding the appointment of the next top judge.
Despite claims of securing the “magic number” needed to push the bill through, the government failed to table the amendments in the parliament and postponed its move indefinitely.
To pass the constitutional amendments, the government is short of 13 votes in the National Assembly (NA) and nine in the Senate.
The PPP chairman said constitutional amendment was imperative to bring equality as he knew how difficult it was to get justice in the country. Nobody should be a sacred cow here, he added.
He said the charter of democracy’s first demand was setting up the federal constitutional court.
“We have been striving for judicial reforms for ages, but you want to let the same judiciary system prevail. There are so many cases that are not heard as every few months a [fresh] political case emerges,” he said, adding that he wished there was a constitutional court at provincial level as well.
He said they wanted such a system that could secure justice for people in the future. He said the constitutional court was not a new thing for him as he had been working on it since his mother promised for it.
He was not doing it for a specific judge and it was part of their manifesto, he said. “It cannot happen that I forget my manifesto in the fight and vote for someone else’s manifesto,” he said.