Bilawal seeks provision of “level playing field” for all political parties.
Says judiciary restoration impacted judiciary-parliament relations.
“Judiciary became partisan actor with clear favourites in 2013 polls.”
Despite the Supreme Court’s dismissal of the possibility of holding the general elections in the 90-day period defined by the Constitution, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari reiterated his demand for the polls at the earliest, saying that delaying the election is to deny them.
“The elections delayed are election denied,” Bilawal said while addressing the celebration of the golden jubilee of the Constitution of Pakistan in an event organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Monday.
Bilawal, the former foreign minister, once again sought the election schedule and provision of a “level playing field” for all the political parties.
Recalling the lawyers’ movement of 2009 for the restoration of the judiciary, he said it was a seminal incident in the history of Pakistan’s judiciary that had a profound impact on the relations between the judiciary and parliament.
Without naming him, Bilawal quoted a leading lawyer and member of the movement for the restoration of the former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, as saying that “the 2009 restoration of the judiciary as a result of public pressure had resulted in judges prone to arrogance and a bar prone to violence”.
The former minister further said that in the 2013 general election, the judiciary under Chaudhry became a partisan actor with clear favourites in the polls, and the same happened in the 2018 elections.
“It is hoped, that this time it will be different,” he added.
Bilawal said that his party has been demanding an election date and schedule since parliament’s term ended, to no avail.
He said that regardless of his well-known opinion on elections in 90 days, “which may now have become a moot point”, the parties’ right to have an election was completely indisputable.
Moreover, earlier today, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa observed that it was “not possible” to meet the 90-day deadline for holding elections and lamented the lack of preparations of the petitioners.
The top judge passed the observation while hearing the petitions seeking timely elections within 90 days of the dissolution of the assemblies. The CJP is leading a three-member bench comprising himself, Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan on the matter.
The pleas were filed by the Supreme Court Bar Association, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and others to ensure that polls in the country are held within the stipulated time period.