Bilawal blames judiciary for political upheaval

ISLAMABAD: Blaming judiciary for the country’s current political situation, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Friday it was through a court decision that a dead political party was resurrected.

Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, the PPP politician apparently referred to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the court’s verdict stripping it off the bat symbol ahead of the February 8 general elections.

“No one sitting in this House is responsible for the current crisis in the country. Only the court was and is the reason for the crisis,” said the PPP chairman.Bilawal insisted that the judiciary was constantly “interfering” in Pakistan’s politics. “The history of judiciary is before everyone,” the PPP leader said, adding his party had to fight for justice on behalf of its martyred leaders — Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto.

He added the PPP founder did not get a fair trial from the judiciary, as he lamented the delay in justice for common citizens. It was this year that his grandfather received justice posthumously, he added.

Commenting on PTI’s bat symbol case, Bilawal said it was initially a result of the party’s “rigged” intra-party elections as per the court, adding the verdict on the bat symbol was not issued by him or the government.

“This verdict resurrected a dead political party after which it started mobilising,” he said, adding the decision had political implications and benefitted the PTI at the last minute — closer to February 8 general polls.

“They have handed out the verdict and seats [to PTI] like candy,” he said. “The court issued a political decision that the party did not even seek. They did not even ask for it and the law and Constitution did not even permit it,” he added.

During Bilawal’s speech the opposition resorted to noisy protest as the PPP politician lamented about the rise of politics of hatred in the country. “The political division today did not exist earlier,” he said.

Pointing towards the political crisis in Bangladesh, the PPP leader said Pakistanis were carefully watching the unfolding situation in the wake of the anti-government protest that triggered its prime minister Sheikh Hasina to resign.“It is crucial for the state to now pay attention to the issues of the people who are experiencing an economic crisis,” he said.