MULTAN: Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari says the judiciary is again under attack and there is a need to protect it.

Speaking to the High Court Bar Association here on Wednesday, the PPP chairman lamented that “the country’s judicial system supports the oppressor and does not give justice to the oppressed.”

“The story of justice and judiciary cannot be separated from the PPP and the Bhutto family. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who gave constitution to the country was executed by courts. Former president Asif Ali Zardari sent the review reference to the Supreme Court to revisit the judicial murder of Bhutto but even after 10 years, we are still awaiting change in the judiciary. If justice can’t be done with Benazir Bhutto and ZAB, how can the common man get justice,” he said.

Referring to the National Accountability Bureau, he said an institution that was established by a dictator is being used to suppress the political parties and their leaders. The NAB in the past used to arrest people after conviction but now whoever speaks against the government is being arrested, he said.

“Asif Ali Zardari was remorselessly sent behind the bars to put Benazir Bhutto under pressure. Later, he was released in all the cases. He is again in the jail without any conviction. How it is possible that the alleged crime was committed in Sindh and FIR was lodged in Karachi but he is being tried in Rawalpindi.

“First Bhutto was hanged in Rawalpindi, then Benazir was assassinated in Rawalpindi and now the cases of political victimisation are being heard in Rawalpindi,” he said.

He said the issues of the masses could not be resolved without democracy.

“The country was divided owing to dictatorship and the masses are being deprived of their rights by using a puppet the way it was done in the past. Judges were forcefully expelled during Musharraf era and the lawyers struggled against this unconstitutional and unlawful action. Today a similar resistance is required,” he said.

He said any effort to amend the constitution and 18th amendment was not acceptable.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2019