Bilawal Bhutto spends busy day, vows to defeat govt

Islamabad: Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari spent a very busy day in the parliament Wednesday.

In the morning he called on the opposition leader, Shahbaz Sharif at the later’s chamber. He addressed the joint opposition parliamentary parties.

Addressing the meeting of opposition members he said that due to the unity of opposition government was repeatedly defeated. We can be successful with this unity. The allied parties had reservations with the government and that has been exposed. There is news that a government member who did not want to attend the session and police was sent to his residence to take him to the session by force and phone calls from several quarters have been made. He thanked all the opposition members to be present in the meeting. The unity of opposition will be a big message for the people of Pakistan and a ray of hope for them. Speaker of the National Assembly and the chairman of the Senate have become used to of violating procedures of the parliament. Despite all this we must continue to struggle for the supremacy of parliament. Today we will present the view point of the majority of Pakistan population.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that government used every tactics to complete its numbers. If we are united then we can defeat this government. We will strongly oppose the legislations regarding electoral reform and the legislation about Kulbhushan Jadhev. The last agenda item is about census in which our reservations are not addressed. This happened first time in the history of CCI meeting approved this controversial census not by consensus but majority votes. Sindh government representing the Sindh province wrote a dissenting note. Sindh government also wrote a letter to Speaker to raise this issue on joint session. Speaker on this constitutional issue as well did not parliament rules. The Speaker or the National Assembly Secretariat did not circulate the letter by the Sindh government. Today this census issue is the last item. Our reservations are on the record and an United Nations agency conducted a survey of housing. The data of this survey contradicts the census. We hope that the united opposition will cooperate with us on this issue. The unity of opposition is the need of the hour and the need of the people of this country.

On way to the assembly hall in the parliament, responding to questions by the journalists, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that opposition has been successful twice in the parliament and today we will strongly oppose the government. The success of opposition is that we are united today and will also be in the future. We have exposed the government and shown that their allies are not with the government. Opposition numbers are complete and we will strongly oppose the government today.

Later on speaking on the floor of the assembly, Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari emphasised that the Speaker of the assembly should respect his position, his chair and his place as the custodian of the house so that the legislations are carried out according to rules and procedures. He asked him not to become a tool of the government in passing legislation against the rules, regulations and constitution. He said that the Speaker had told the opposition that there will be consultation on the government proposed legislation but he went back on his words.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the treasury members should respect the parliament. The government must not tell lies in the parliament. The government is trying to bring unilateral electoral reforms. Addressing the Speaker, he said that if the government is cheating the parliament then you should not become a part of it. The way this parliament is being run including this joint session, undermining the parliament. The government wants to bring unilateral electoral reforms and want to bulldose them. This was not dome by the PML-N government which had two-third majority and we all agreed on electoral reforms in 2017 including the PTI. If the allies of the government had played the role of a bridge between the government and opposition then today we all would have been legislating together and the next elections would have not been controversial.

The government is bulldosing EVM but we today say that we reject this machine from today. There are 34 reservations expressed by the ECP on these EVMs. We are standing with the ECP. He said that it my innocent question that the electronic voting system is in the house but never used and this government wants to use EVM in thousands of polluting booths. The government is making these legislations controversial from today. Creating voting lists is the constitutional job of the ECP and no one can violate constitution by legislation. We have drafted the constitution and we will approach courts against these legislations which are violating the constitution. As far as voting rights for the overseas Pakistanis are concerned, every party wants them to have this right. We give this right to the overseas Kashmiris in Azad Kashmir elections and want the same here in Pakistan. Why a vote which is cast by a person sitting in Paris and California can impact the result in Multan or Sibbi. This is to dilute the vote of a person who is facing historic price-hike, unemployment and poverty.

The government wants to give relief to the Indian spy, Kulbhushan Jadhev. The government provided Indian spy a relief before as well but he did not avail the opportunity thus disrespecting this parliament. Now the government wants to give relief to that Indian spy by today’s legislations. We will not let the government to use this parliament to provide relief to Indian spy Jadhev.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that Imran Khan had promised suicide if he approaches the IMF. Now the government has become a slave of the IMF. Pakistani people are bearing the burden of PTIMF agreement. The people are troubled by the government policies. Now the government wants to bring State bank under IMF instead of the Parliament and the Pakistani judiciary. Parliament is supreme and we will also challenge this effort of the government.

Chair PPP said that the PPP had expressed reservations on the census and we were told to agree on it one time so that elections are held. Afterwards in the meeting of Council of Common Interest, first time in history the issue was resolved by majority vote instead of consensus. The United Nations had conducted a survey which showed discrepancy in the data of the United Nations and the census. Then the Sindh government wrote to the Speaker so that these reservations are circulated among the members but no member yet received those reservations. There had to be discussion on the issue of census but no discussions were ever held. This is a robbery on the rights and resources of Sindh, Balochistan and the former tribal areas. We will not let this injustice to take place.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that Sindh has also expressed reservations on the energy policy of the government. He said that the census and the energy policy require serious debate in the parliament. The entire country is looking at the parliament and the politicians to resolve their problems but this government is trying to bulldoze EVM, unilateral electoral reforms and other legislations. This is robbery of people’s vote, pockets and rights.

Afterwards he said that it is necessary to pass any bill from joint session without the majority of the strength of National Assembly and the Senate both. In the joint opposition the legislation cannot be passed by simple majority out of members present in the house. He read out rules and regulations regarding parliamentary principles, section 10 of the 1973 constitution.

[When a bill is passed in joint sitting, with or without amendment, by6 the votes of the majority of the total membership of the two Houses, an authenticated copy thereof, signed by the Speake, shall be transmitted, by the Secretary, to the President for assent under article 75.]

On the way back from the Assembly floor responding to a question by a journalist, the former President Asif Ali Zardari said that the government is using all its energy to sow the seed of this legislation but they will not benefit from its fruit rather someone else will reap the benefit.

The opposition staged a walk out of the session. Talking to journalists in the opposition’s press conference, Chairman Bilawal said that the entire country should know that the government was defeated today as in the joint session legislations are passed by the majority of the total strength of the National Assembly and the Senate jointly. This number comes out to be 222 votes which the government failed to muster. He asked media to make people aware of the fact that the government was defeated today. Responding to questions by the journalists he said that the failure of the government is that it could not secure 222 votes. He said that the opposition is united in the parliament where we can and have defeated the government. He said that the PPP has a historic stance that every institution must work within its own ambit.