Imposition of Emergency Is a Perfectly Constitutional Step; Opposition Should Engage in Dialogue with the Government, Urges PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has vehemently backed the declaration of an administrative emergency in KP and said the federal government took all efforts to reach a political solution before declaring administrative emergency in the province.
In a National Assembly floor speech, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari dismissed the current plight of KP as the result of a “political suicide attack” by the then provincial government, adding that the crisis was implicit in Article 232 of the Constitution, which gives the president “emergency” powers to resolve such situations.
The National Assembly was addressed by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who covered some of the key aspects in his speech.
In an attack on India, the PPP chief claimed that the country was sponsoring and financing terrorism within the country and India will never back down from the fight against terrorism. India has failed to absorb the defeats of the past and was given a lesson in warfare which it will not forget,” he added.
Call for National Unity: highlighting that it was impossible for the Federal Government to attack all the fronts alone, Bilawal called for unity among all political parties to resolve the fundamental issues related to national security as a failure to reach a consensus on these issues would cause “serious damage” to the country. He repeated that in past, Pakistan has not been frightened by terrorists, nor will it be in future.
Apporach to Dialogue and Opposition’s Rights: Bilawal said that the emergency cannot be continued forever and urged the opposition to resume the negotiation table. He said the provincial leadership’s failure to take action against militancy had compelled the Federation.He said that while allowing the constitutional right of the opposition to disagree and express their concern over the government action, he said the provincial leadership’s failure to take action against militancy had put the Federation in a difficult situation.