- Bilawal says opposition has contributed to parliament’s weakening.
- NA opposition leader calls for parliament to become source of power.
- PPP delegation conveys Bilawal’s message to Mahmood Achakzai.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Thursday urged Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers to join the electoral reforms committee, saying parliament could be strengthened if the opposition played an active role in the legislative process.
Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, Bilawal called on opposition parties to return to parliamentary committees and asked Leader of the Opposition in the NA Mahmood Khan Achakzai to use his authority to ensure their participation in the electoral reforms process.
He said the government and the treasury benches have a responsibility to make parliament functional, but the opposition also needed to fulfil its role.
“Parliament is powerful, and if parliament is powerful, we are all powerful,” Bilawal said, stressing that elected representatives have a collective responsibility to strengthen the institution.
Blaming the opposition’s role, he warned that those who wanted parliament to remain weak and ineffective had achieved their objective.
Bilawal said all political parties have a responsibility to represent their respective constituencies and should use parliamentary forums to raise public concerns rather than remain absent from committee proceedings.
He urged the opposition leader to exercise his authority regarding the electoral reforms committee and asked opposition lawmakers to submit their nominations to the National Assembly speaker’s office.
The PPP chairman said the committee could provide a platform to address allegations of electoral rigging and work towards reforms before future elections.
“If you want concerns about rigging in future elections to be addressed, you must participate in the electoral reforms committee,” he said, urging PTI lawmakers to join the process.
Bilawal maintained that the committee would serve little purpose if opposition parties refused to participate. He said the government was willing to engage with the opposition and called on opposition lawmakers to come forward and contribute to the process.
He also sought a briefing for parliament on developments concerning the country’s security and economy, saying lawmakers should be informed about potential challenges in the coming days.
Bilawal called for parliament to be taken into confidence over the implications of defence agreements signed by Pakistan and the possible risks facing the country.
He stressed that lawmakers needed information about the evolving situation to enable them to understand the challenges and discuss the government’s response.
Let us sit together: Achakzai
Addressing the lower house, Achakzai called for parliament to be made the source of power, urging the government to strengthen the institution. He said political parties would receive support if they worked towards making parliament stronger.
The opposition leader also recalled his demand for the formation of a committee to examine alleged government corruption.
Urging political reconciliation, Achakzai said no new political players would emerge and that existing political forces needed to move beyond past disputes.
“Neither are you so good, nor are we so bad. Let us sit together,” he said, calling on political rivals to engage with one another.
PPP delegation meets opposition leaders
In a separate development today, a high-level PPP delegation met NA Opposition Leader Achakzai and conveyed a message from the party’s chairman Bilawal.
Former federal minister Syed Naveed Qamar and former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf met Achakzai at the office of Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafri.
PTI senators were also present during the meeting.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Ashraf said that the opposition leader welcomed Bilawal’s message.
He urged the Imran Khan-founded PTI to play its full role in parliament, saying the institution’s dignity was also linked to free and fair elections.
He called for parliamentary committees to be formed to introduce electoral reforms, noting that Bilawal had also advocated reforms through parliament.
The former prime minister said the PPP had always worked to promote democracy.
