PPP chair says "elections delayed are election denied"; regrets judiciary becoming partisan actor in 2013 and 2018 polls
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari Monday once again called for the elections to be held at the earliest and level-playing field for all the political parties set to contest the polls.
While addressing an event organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) to mark the golden jubilee of the Constitution of Pakistan, Bilawal said that their right to have an election was completely indisputable regardless of his demand of elections in 90 days, "which may now have become a moot point".
It may be noted that the Supreme Court dispelled the possibility of holding the general elections in the 90-day period defined by the Constitution.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, while hearing petitions seeking timely elections within 90 days of the dissolution of the assemblies, 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 elections delayed are election denied," Bilawal said while urging the Election Commission of Pakistan to issue an election date and schedule.
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.