26th Amendment drafted after political compromise: Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Wednesday the recently passed 26th Constitutional Amendment was drafted after reaching a “compromise” with other political forces.

“Perhaps it’s not exactly as I would have drafted,” said the PPP lawmaker during an interview with Oxford Union’s President Israr Khan, adding that his party had a “positive contribution” to the contentious legislation as it engaged in talks with the opposition “despite having the votes”.

During the interview, he expressed his views on the status of democracy in Pakistan, legislative business in parliament, 26th Amendment and Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Peca) (Amendment) Bill 2025 passed by the coalition government.

Bilawal said the Peoples Party has always and will always continue to fight for democracy whether it is related to the Constitution, subsequent rights, devolution, individual rights or other matters. “Every piece of legislation, politics, rights-based politics, constitution-based politics is done, championed and protected by the Peoples Party,” he said, adding that his party would welcome more criticism to do better.

Commenting on the 26th Amendment, the former foreign minister said that it was a long-standing aim for the charter of democracy which people refer to, to establish a constitutional court in the country. The 26th Amendment, a judiciary-oriented constitutional package which paved the way for the formation of constitutional benches, was passed by parliament in October last year.

He added that his party believed in dialogue, engagement and compromise instead of enforcing its views on others. “Despite having the voters, we engaged with the opposition, with Maulana Fazlur Rehman and came out with a compromised legislation,” said Bilawal.

However, he also defended the contentious Peca amendments and said that it was not an ideal legislation but a better legislation than initially proposed “which had ridiculous things like 30 years in prisons for a post of god knows what not”.

He went on to say that his party had strongly opposed the previous shape of the legislation within its parliamentary capacity when it was first introduced by the former premier Imran Khan-led government. Bilawal said the PPP contributed through amendments and input so that the legislation could be passed.

He further said that the Peoples Party was the third-largest party in the National Assembly and therefore may not be able to dictate its terms or impose its will on parliament except for using its space to have a positive input on the country’s legislative affairs.