All political parties should have level playing field, says Bilawal

According to Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), on Monday he once again called for the elections to take place as soon as possible on a level playing field for all the political parties taking part.

In his address to an event organized by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) to celebrate the golden jubilee of the Constitution of Pakistan, Bilawal said that the right of the people to vote was completely indisputable despite the fact that he demanded elections within 90 days, “a demand which may now seem moot.”

As may be noted, the Supreme Court had ruled that the 70-day period outlined in the Constitution would not permit a general election to be held within that period.

During his hearing of petitions to hold elections within 90 days of the dissolution of the assemblies, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa noted that, despite the fact that the 90-day deadline was not attainable, it was not possible for the petitioners to prepare in time for the elections and lamented the lack of preparations on their part.

Bilawal said in an interview he was urging the Election Commission of Pakistan to issue an election schedule and a date for the elections in a bid to prevent elections from being delayed.

We appreciate the role of the bar in upholding the rule of law, constitutionalism, and human rights in Pakistan. We appreciate that the bar has played this role regardless of the political inclinations of individual members of the bar, and the office bearers of the bar… pic.twitter.com/ealQpfYzE4
— PPP (@MediaCellPPP) October 23, 2023

It is noteworthy that he referred to the 2009 lawyers’ movement for the restoration of the judiciary as having played a crucial role in shaping the judiciary-parliament relations in Pakistan, and he said that this was an incident that would remain in the history of Pakistan’s courts for the rest of time.

Despite the fact that Bilawal did not identify him, he quoted a prominent attorney and leader of the movement attempting to regain the former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP), Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who has said that “since the judiciary was restored as a result of public pressure in 2009, judges have become arrogant and the bar has become violently violent.”

According to the former minister, the judiciary under Chaudhry became a partisan actor within the 2013 general election, and the same thing happened in 2018 as well, with clear favourites in the polls under Chaudhry.

He added, “There is a hope that this time will be different, as we hope that it will be a success.”.

Despite the fact that his party had demanded an election schedule and date since the end of parliament’s term, Bilawal said his party had been unable to get them.

Even though he was well known for his opinion on elections in 90 days, he said that it was an indisputable fact that the parties had the right to hold elections regardless of his well-known position on elections in 90 days.