Key Pakistani politician rejects ‘person-specific system’ amid push for constitutional amendments

In this file photo, taken and released by the Press Information Department, Pakistani lawmaker Bilawal Bhutoo-Zardari speaks the National Assembly meeting in Islamabad on August 9, 2024. (PID/File)

• Bilawal Bhutto says any decisions regarding laws related to the judiciary should be made through consultation
• He says the Supreme Court is consuming much of its time on political matters occupying 15% of its workload

ISLAMABAD: The top official of a leading Pakistani political party, which played a key role in helping Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif form his coalition government, said on Tuesday he did not want a “person-specific system” when asked about a major constitutional amendment package the government plans to push through the national parliament.
The package, which proposes 52 amendments to the supreme national document, was expected to be tabled in the National Assembly and Senate during the last session but was postponed since the government did not have enough numbers to meet the required two-third majority.
The Sharif government is proposing to increase the retirement age of superior judges by three years and revisit the seniority principle in the appointment of the country’s top judge.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) opposition party of jailed former premier Imran Khan has criticized the constitutional package, saying it is meant to grant an extension to incumbent Supreme Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who is widely believed to be aligned with the ruling coalition and in opposition to its chief rival, the PTI.
“I do not want to create a person-specific system that rules someone in or out,” Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), whose support is vital to the government, told ARY News during an interview. “I believe any decision should be made through consultation. There’s no harm if such consultation happens between the executive and the judiciary.”
In response to a question about whether a new chief justice would take oath in October when Isa is scheduled to retire this year, Bhutto-Zardari said he had “no doubt that the next chief justice will be Mansoor Ali Shah.”
The Pakistani lawyers’ associations have already maintained the government is trying to undermine “the unity of the judges” through the constitutional amendment package.
Many believe that Pakistan’s judiciary is divided among judges widely seen to be favoring one political party or another.
The PPP leader maintained neither the judiciary not parliament was working properly.
He also noted that the Supreme Court was primarily consuming its time while adjudicating political matters that occupied nearly 15 percent of its workload.