Bilawal says PPP won't yield to any pressure on contentious judicial package

• Bilawal says PPP was told to step back from 18th amendment.
• Suggest parliamentary committee for judges' appointment.
• PPP chief insists on evolving consensus on constitutional package.
  

As the coalition government has yet to gain enough parliamentary strength for its contentious constitutional amendments, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari reiterated his party's firm stance to bring judicial reforms without accepting pressure from any side.

"This not possible that we do not accomplish a necessary task by succumbing to someone's pressure," said Bilawal while addressing an event of the Peoples Lawyers Forum in Quetta on Monday.

He claimed that the PPP was told to withdraw the recently proposed constitutional amendments or in another case, it should take back the 18th Amendment.

The PPP chief claimed that his party had achieved successes via 18th constitutional amendment, including by renaming Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province among others.  

He said that the existing mechanism of judicial appointments was not in favour for the nation but only for judges. He stressed the necessity of reforms citing the existing procedure of appointments in the judiciary.

He further emphasised forming a parliamentary committee comprising the treasury and the opposition lawmakers to decide on judges' appointment. Bilawal suggested that a judge would not be appointed if the recommended name fails to win a majority in the committee.

He went on to say that the country's judicial system could not serve justice to the victims of terrorism and also highlighted the huge pendency of cases in the different courts.

The PPP chairman advocated the formation of a constitutional court in the country with equal representation of all provinces. He added that the time has come to rectify the judicial shortcomings.

He was of the view that not only in Islamabad, constitutional courts should also be established in provinces which is a necessary step to dispatch timely justice on a provincial level.

He, however, clarified that consensus on the mechanism for provincial constitutional courts is yet to be developed.

Bilawal said that they "only criticised due to political differences" when responding to the opposition's criticism of the proposed constitutional amendments.

The PPP chief said Maulana Fazlur Rehman-led Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F)along with political parties part of the ruling alliance have had same stances on constitutional courts.

He, however, insisted on evolving a consensus with all parties on the constitutional package per the PPP manifesto and Benazir Bhutto's promise.

"We will try to prepare a consentient draft as per wishes of [late PPP chairman and ex-premier] Benazir Bhutto as she suggested judicial reforms in 2006," he vowed. "We do not have a two-thirds majority in parliament, however, we have to work hard to fulfil Benazir's promise."

The government pushed the proposed constitutional package amid speculation about a potential extension in the tenure of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, who is set to retire in October this year, following the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) request last month 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 judiciary-centric amendments — possibly including the establishment of a separate constitutional court — in parliament and postponed its move indefinitely.

The ruling coalition left no stone unturned to woo Fazl, with leaderships of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the PPP holding a flurry of meetings with the cleric, but to no avail.

To pass the constitutional amendments, the government is short of 13 votes in the National Assembly (NA) and nine in the Senate.

PPP trying to woo Fazl, Bilawal says

The PPP chairman said that judicial reforms were part of the Charter of Democracy signed between the PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and slain Benazir Bhutto in 2006.

Speaking on Geo News programme Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath, Bilawal asked if there is any example where the top court is fixing the prices of potatoes and building dams.

“Show me one country where judges are appointed by judges.” PPP has been trying to introduce judicial reforms since 2006, he added.

Responding to a question, Bilawal expressed hope that they would woo JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman over the PPP’s draft in connection with the constitutional amendment.

Reiterating his party's stance on the Federal constitutional court, the PPP chairman said that the sitting chief justice of the Supreme Court (SC) appoints a judge of his choice by a process of his choice.

“So, what we have resulted from the Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s court, a perpetualisation of this concept of super judicial activism that is not found anywhere else in the world.”

“The only counter to that, is for us to have a proper appointment for the process of judges that is not one that is just exclusively left in the domain of the higher judiciary that pretext the concentration of powers in the hands of any one individual.”

But actually, consensus decision of a forum that sure, it can include members of the judiciary but must also include members of the opposition, the government and the bar, he added.