PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari quite bluntly said on Wednesday that the 26th Constitutional Amendments were not possible without Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s support, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
In an interview with the BBC, he said Justice Isa was the country’s first CJP who followed the constitution and believed in the supremacy of the parliament. “But unfortunately efforts were made to make him ‘controversial’.”
PPP chairman was of the view that the Supreme Court’s (SC) first decision in the Article 63-A case was ‘unconstitutional and politically motivated’. “Had such a decision not been set aside by Justice Isa, it would have been difficult to pass the constitutional amendments.”
He further said that JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, by terming one of the clauses ‘draconian’, tried to make the entire legislation ‘controversial’. “Actually the clause he had referred to was related to setting up military courts in the country,” Bilawal said, and added, “The purpose of setting up military courts was to punish those involved in the May 9 incidents of violence.”
PPP chairman said that the coalition government could have got the amendments passed even without Maulana Fazl.
Reiterating his belief in the proverb, ‘democracy is the best revenge’, he said he did not believe in keeping his political opponents in jails.
However, while referring to former prime minister Imran Khan, Bilawal added, the man sitting in the jail would have to take the first step to end the culture of political victimization in the country.
Surprisingly, he said he did not have any idea that Justice Mansoor Ali Shah would not become the chief justice of Pakistan.