LAHORE: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Monday politicians and establishment had made mistakes in past but the judiciary made huge mistakes.

“Collectively, we are all responsible for our nation’s failures.”

Delivering a written speech in English to the members of Lahore High Court Bar Association, Bilawal lauded the role of legal fraternity for democracy. He said it was the duty of every individual and institution to play its role in strengthening democracy in the country.

The PPP chairman also questioned judges’ appointment procedure and said whether the independence of judiciary had been guaranteed by vesting the power to appoint judges with the judges alone or was it best served when the power to appoint judges was given to parliament, the president, the prime minister and the bar council.

He said the restoration of judiciary as a result of public demonstrations created some sort of euphoria that led some to believe that a new era of independent judiciary had dawned but some people thought otherwise.

He said during 2010-13 the Judicial Commission (JC) made 126 nominations of judges in the Supreme Court and the five high courts while the parliamentary committee (PC) disagreed with only eight appointments. However, he said, the Supreme Court overturned all the decisions of the PC.

He said a verdict on a constitutional reference filed by then President Asif Ali Zardari made the role of the president and the prime minister not more than mere post offices. He deplored that there was not a single woman judge in the Supreme Court in the 21st century.

Defending the role of the parliament prescribed in the constitution, he said it was surprising when it was said that the chief justice be consulted in the process of selection of National Accountability Bureau head or in the appointment of chairman and members of the Federal Service Tribunal even when the laws made by the elected representatives of the people do not provide for this.

He also called for the setting up of with equal representation of all federating unites to decide constitutional issues saying it was unfinished agenda of the Charter of Democracy (CoD) signed in May 2006 between his mother Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif on behalf of their parties.

About the use of suo motu powers, Bilawal said it would be worthwhile to make a comparative study of how many suo motu notices were taken in PPP government and how many after the PPP was no longer in power.

Quoting a report of the International Commission of Jurists, he said the use of suo motu led to a corrosion of the rule of law and a blurring of the constitutional separation of powers.

He asked the lawyers to give a thought to whether there was a need to regulate the suo motu powers.

He said that the PPP was deeply concerned and condemned the growing misuse of blasphemy law for silencing dissent and for oppressing minorities and welcomed the recent Supreme Court verdict and its call for looking into this issue. He expressed the hope that the parliament would take note of the Supreme Court verdict and make appropriate legislation to prevent the misuse of the blasphemy law.

Questioning the implementation of NAP, he expressed concern over execution of some juveniles and mentally challenged people in the name of implementation of NAP.

Bilawal said the NAP was, in fact, “Noon League Action Plan” as it followed the agenda of Noon League and not the national agenda and no action had been taken against extremist militant organizations in the Punjab. He deplored that banned organizations continued to function with different names.

Former prime minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani, Punjab PPP President Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo, PPP Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, Secretary General Jahangir Badar and others were also present at the stage. Strict security measures were taken by the bar for the arrival of Bilawal.

Bilawal Bhutto also presided over a meeting of the PPP leaders from Punjab at the Bilawal House and stressed for restructuring of the party in the province.

He also asked Punjab PPP President Manzoor Wattoo to gather other opposition parties in Punjab for a joint opposition on different issues.

Former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Makhdoom Ahmed Makhdoom, Haider Zaman Qureshi, Shaukat Basra, Sardar Latif Khosa and Samina Ghurki were also present.

Meanwhile, Senator Aitzaz Ahsan told reporters that the government should take the matter of Iran-Saudi row in the parliament. “The government should take the parliament into confidence in all matters,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2016