ISLAMABAD: The Central Executive Committee of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) met on Wednesday in Naudero. The meeting called for an early decision of the presidential reference filed in the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2011 to review the 1979 conviction of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
The joint meeting of the CEC and the Federal Council was presided over by Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
“An early disposal of the reference is necessary for correcting historical record,” the resolution said, adding that the party hoped that a decision on it would be taken soon.
The party also called for setting up of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission as agreed in the 2006 Charter of Democracy, signed by the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
“The TRC is aimed at revisiting the macabre injustices, atrocities and wrongs of the past in a spirit of arriving at the truth,” said Farhatullah Babar while talking to the media.
“The admission of guilt by the perpetrators in return for some limited indemnity provides some comfort to the victims. This is the basis of a truth commission. It is a way forward to come to terms with the bitterness of the past, brace for the future and move on,” he said.
He said that the CEC had also expressed grave concern over the non-implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) and dismal failure of the government in carrying out the promised madrassa reforms, stopping banned outfits from resurrection under other names and reforms in the tribal areas.
“The party demands immediate merger of FATA in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the extension of the jurisdiction of superior courts to the tribal areas as promised in the proposed reforms. It also called for placing before the parliament the proposed Riwaj Regulation that will replace the notorious Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) in the tribal areas,” he said. Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the executive committee had also demanded an early formation of the Parliamentary Committee on national security to oversee the implementation of NAP on the one hand and revisit policies of national security on the other. “It also called for electoral reforms in consultation with all political parties ahead of the next general elections in the country,” he said.
The party also called for concrete steps to make Pakistan a welfare state as envisioned in Article 38 of the Constitution and in this connection reminded the government of the pledges made at the United Nations to achieve the targets set out in the Sustainable Development Goals, the SDGs.
“The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is also deeply concerned over the failure of the country’s foreign policy as is evident from the increasing isolation of Pakistan in the region and deteriorating relations with all neighbours, excluding China, and reiterated the demand of the appointment of a full time foreign minister,” he said.
The meeting also took note of and expressed concern over increasing inflation, decrease in purchasing power of the common man, deteriorating law and order situation, inadequate salary and pension structure, low wages of workers and massive corruption.
“It deplored that load-shedding had increased. The meeting reminded the government of promises it had made at the time of 2013 election to end load-shedding within six months and also the circular debt once and for all. The power shortfall at the beginning of summer has already exceeded 5,000 megawatts,” he said. Babar said that people in urban areas faced power outages of 8-10 hours and those in rural areas of 10-14 hours. “This reality mocks the man who had claimed that his name be changed if he failed to end load-shedding in six months,” he said.
The party also called for an equitable distribution of resources among the provinces and regions within provinces of the benefits of CPEC and stressed the need for adhering to the Western route of the corridor as decided at the all parties conference held in May, 2015.
