ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Friday said that the defunct political party has been resurrected following a court order that stripped Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of its election symbol (bat), suggesting that the judiciary was responsible for the current crises.
“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.
Addressing the National Assembly in today’s session, Bilawal insisted that the judiciary was constantly “interfering” in Pakistan’s politics.
“The history of the judiciary is before all,” said the young politician, adding that his party must fight for justice on behalf of its martyred leaders — Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto.
He added that the PPP founder did not get a fair trial by the judiciary and at the same time lamented the delay in justice for ordinary citizens. It was this year, he added, that his grandfather received justice posthumously.
Commenting on the PTI bat symbol case, Bilawal said that the court said it was originally the result of “rigged” intra-party elections. He insisted that neither he nor the government passed the verdict on the bat symbol.
“This verdict resurrected a dead political party, after which it started mobilizing,” he said, adding that the decision had political ramifications and benefited the PTI at the last minute – closer to the February 8 general polls.
The Supreme Court stripped the PTI of its ‘bat’ election symbol ahead of the elections.
“They handed out the judgment and the seats [to the PTI] like candy,” he said, adding that the court had given a political ruling that the party had not even asked for.
“They didn’t even ask for it, and the law and the constitution didn’t even allow it.”
Bilawal mocked the role of judges in the country and said the institution is so capable that it cannot just run courts but also build dams.
The PPP politician lamented the rise of hate politics in the country in his speech in Parliament, during which the opposition protested noisily. “Today’s political division didn’t exist before.”
Pointing to the political crisis in Bangladesh, Bilawal said Pakistanis were closely following developments in the wake of the anti-government protest that forced their Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign.
He emphasized that it is crucial for the state to now address the issue of people who are experiencing an economic crisis.
