F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in his address at the National Assembly said that today is a historical day for the nation. On this very day in 1973, the foundation of Pakistan’s federal, democratic and Islamic Constitution was laid.
The people of Pakistan combatted dictators and faced a plethora of obstacles to emerge as a united nation. The glue that binds all provinces of Pakistan is its Constitution. This day should be included in our syllabus to apprise the future generations of how the basis of the Constitution was laid on 10 April, 1973. This is the day when democracy triumphed and paved the way for Pakistan’s constitutional journey. On this very day, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto united a divided nation under the Parliament to give the country an Islamic and democratic Constitution, and subsequently, a voice to the poor people of the country.
The penalty he received for this was being martyred. The irony is that those responsible for defending the Constitution were the very entities involved in this crime. A dictator was imposed on the nation, who planted the seeds of extremism and terrorism in the country, the aftermath of which is still being dealt with today. The dictator also introduced the politics of hatred and vengeance that is still combated today.
On this very day in 1986, a young woman had reached Lahore to call that dictator out and stood against him. The entire country stood shoulder to shoulder with the brave woman. The dictator’s empire shuddered at her very arrival. Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto lit the torch of democracy and began the journey of the restoration of the 1973 Constitution. She struggled for 30 years for the restoration of the 1973 Constitution. After Dictator Zia-ul-Haq, another dictator, General Pervez Musharraf planted the same seeds of hatred and terrorism. Phony puppets who pretended to be politicians were created. Today too, those who have benefitted from the undermining of democracy and the Constitution are gathered under one flag, that of the PTI. They are still following the undemocratic politics that began with General Zia and continued with General Musharraf.
In 2006, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif signed the Charter of Democracy to express their resolve to contest the elections as per their respective manifestos and to face each other in one battleground, that of the elections. They were determined to not let any third party benefit from the competition among political parties. Undemocratic forces often benefit from the enmity among political parties. Since the CoD was signed and it was agreed that political parties would engage in politics and combat one another within boundaries, the same undemocratic forces started concocting their own agenda. They realised that if the democratic forces gathered together, they would be left with no space in the political and economic spheres in the society.
Through the restoration of the 1973 Constitution, the provinces were not only given their rights but also their identity. This had happened for the first time in the history of the country. In 2013, it was the first time in the country’s history that a peaceful transition of power from one elected government to another took place. This was a make or break moment in the history of the country’s political struggle, as a result of which, we experienced some political stability despite the conspiracies. It is a result of the political stability that the country experienced economic stability from 2008 to 2013. This was also a time when projects such as the CPEC brought an influx of opportunities for the people.
Just as we struggled for the sake of democracy for 30 years, certain entities were conspiring against it ever since. It was unbearable for those very entities to see Pakistan flourish as a democratic country. As a response to our accomplishments, a Frankenstein-esque experiment was imposed on us. A selected rule was established in the country with the aim of not only having a puppet sit on the seat of the PM, but to reverse the accomplishments of the past decade. The aim was to reverse the 1973 Constitution. The very Constitution that had united the nation after the creation of Bangladesh.
The ten-year doctrine was made unsuccessful in three years, that too, on April 10, 2022. For the first time in the country’s history, a selected puppet was sent home not with the aid of the judiciary or the establishment, but through a democratic method of the no-confidence. The entirety of the country’s political parties assumed the responsibility of helping the country emerge from the crises that began with the selected puppet. As our hard work continued, so did the conspiracies against our efforts. We kept tolerating the conspiracies for the sake of the country, its institutions and the system. However, it is imperative that on the Golden Jubilee of the Constitution, those conspiracies are unveiled.
The doctrine did not end with the removal of the selected puppet. Till today, there are still entities in every institution who are against this democratic journey. Not only are they against this Constitution on an ideological level, but are also opposing this democratic path for their personal benefit. They do not want for the unity among us to prevail. They still want to usurp the power given to the people through the Constitution and the 18th Amendment and establish a ‘One Unit’ selected rule. The main characters of the conspiracy hatched in the past three years have still not been revealed before the nation.
It was a decade-long plan and Imran Niazi was not the sole character. There were other institutions in the country, such as our judiciary, in the history of which there have been judges who have refuted every dictator and written dissenting notes.
They were the very judges who refused to send Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to the gallows. They were the ones who refused to salute Musharraf. Just as there have been honourable and courageous judges in our history, unfortunately we have also seen judges who failed to protect the very Constitution that they vowed to defend and sided with the dictators. Similar to the doctrine that was being planned for the Parliament, a conspiracy was being hatched in the Supreme Court. When on one side, if a PM was being made to stay for ten years, then on the other some judges were also to be given extensions. Those involved in this are still a part of our honourable judiciary today. Through the no-confidence motion, this conspiracy was also made unsuccessful.
There is also another ‘institution’, the usual term for which is a misnomer as it is under the Minister for Defense. There was a conspiracy here too, where the murder of merit was to take place. Someone was to be imposed on this institution for ten years as well.
The plan was to have a selected PM, a selected Chief Justice and a selected Chief of Army Staff to establish a selected martial law. For the world, we would have been a democratic nation but the reality would have been different. We were wrong to assume that the conspiracy would end with the no-confidence motion. It is continued today. The conspiracy is to tear apart the Constitution. We have to work unitedly to defeat this conspiracy. This game is not being played in our institution, and the other has chosen to be neutral. This leaves one place for the game to be continued.
Chairman Bilawal appealed to the honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan to form a democratic consensus within the institution as the judiciary of Pakistan stands at a crossroads. The court can either be one that defends the Constitution of Pakistan with its judges unitedly forming one bench to form a democratic consensus or run a ‘one-man show’ as Justice Minallah calls it a ‘politician in black robes’ who want to tell us that 2 plus 2 is 3 not 4. I am confident that the consensus of the Supreme Court of Pakistan would be democratic and withstand any conspiracy, Chairman Bilawal said. The Chief Justice of Pakistan along with a few judges are insisting on telling the nation that the notes of Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Athar Minallah.
The people of Pakistan cannot afford the joke that is being played with the Pakistan’s judiciary and the Constitution as part of a bigger game. Our Minister for Finance works day and night so that we can emerge from the financial crisis that the puppet has left us in. We are also initiating an operation against terrorism.
The Pakistan Peoples Party believes that the way to solve the influx of crises is by forming a consensus and sitting on the negotiating table. The same spirit of responsibility applies to the honourable judiciary as well. If each member of the Supreme Court is not given their due respect, then we cannot solve the democratic crisis. This battle is of the elite and has no connection with the suffering of the people of Pakistan. The financial burden being carried by the common man is before everyone. The Pakistani citizen is left wondering where they will get the next meal from. The interest of the people in this institution or the other has dwindled as they are finding it difficult to survive. People from every stratum of the society are finding it difficult to fend for themselves.
The country needs political stability to combat a variety of issues and that can only be achieved when the institutions of the country perform their duties within their constitutional domains, not by acting as someone’s political wing. Unity and consensus are the way forward. Today too, the Pakistan Peoples Party is ready to defend the Constitution. It is hoped that even a hundred years from now, the Constitution Day of Pakistan would be celebrated, Chairman Bilawal said.
Bilawal believes dialogue can steer country out of crises
