PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has expressed hope that the Supreme Court will take the side of “constitution and democracy” as the apex court conducted a hearing on the petition seeking direction to all state functionaries to act strictly in accordance with the constitution and the law in light of the no-trust vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan, a private TV channel reported.
He made the remarks while addressing the media outside the top court on Monday flanked by PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and other opposition leaders. “The government can violate the Constitution and speaker has already violated the Constitution but we express hope that our top court will not take the side of any political party and take the side of Constitution, democracy and law,” the PPP leader said. He also thanked the chief justice of Pakistan for taking “notice” of the attack on the Sindh House and called upon all the political parties to present their viewpoint in the court. Bilawal also advised National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser not to follow the instructions of the PTI-led government and act in accordance with the law to “protect himself from Article 6”. “You should perform your duties after taking advice from lawyers.. these people will trap you in Article 6,” Bilawal said, adding that the speaker has violated the Constitution not by convening the assembly session within the stipulated time period of 14 days.
“We should fight the political battle in parliament and the constitutional and legal matters must be settled by the courts. This government is running away from the no-confidence motion,” the PPP leader added. He said the government under the law could not bar any lawmaker from voting on the no-confidence motion against the premier. Speaking on the occasion Shehbaz, who is also Leader of the Opposition in NA, said that the speaker “breached” the Constitution by not convening the NA session within 14 days after the no-confidence motion was tabled in the lower house by the opposition on March 8. “The case is being heard and the matter will be decided by the court,” he said adding that the speaker deliberately delayed the NA session under the guise of OIC meeting to “trap the opposition”.
Lashing out at the ruling PTI, Maulana Fazl said that the government has failed on every front and it was trying to use various tactics to protect its “dictatorial rule”. Responding to the government’s allegations of horse-trading, Fazl rejected the claims that the opposition parties were paying the bribe to the ruling PTI dissident lawmakers to seek their support for the no-trust vote against PM Imran.
