News
April 29 , 2022
New Charter of Democracy to Strengthen Unity Govt: Bilawal
Karachi: Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari announced at his first interaction with media persons after arrival from London on Tuesday that he was finally taking oath as foreign minister today (Wednesday).
Mr Bhutto-Zardari shared some sketchy details about the revival of Charter of Democracy (CoD) between PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on which he and the PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif agreed after back-to-back meetings.
“We have decided to revive the CoD and agreed to take it up from where we had left it and also bring the CoD–two,” he said.
Sounding confident about the future of the two parties which had remained rivals for decades and dismissing recent rise in popularity of the ousted prime minister Imran Khan, the PPP chairman called the new setup “a unity government” which came into being after democracy had “received a new [lease of] life following the recent parliamentary process [success of vote of no confidence]”. The “rest of the ills,” he said, would be fixed after the next elections following due electoral reforms by the government.
“I just want to share a piece of news of your interest,” he announced suddenly arousing curiosity of newsmen at Bilawal House. “I am finally joining the cabinet and I would take oath of office tomorrow [Wednesday]. I am determined to play my part for the success of this unity government. I will contribute my 100 per cent as the foreign minister. Over the last few years in general and the past few months in particular, the selected government had made so much dent to our foreign office and our image. Now it’s time to fix it all.”
Earlier, Bhutto-Zardari shared his experience of meeting with the former prime minister and PML-N founder Mr Sharif and the consensus the two leaders reached in their back-to-back hours-long meetings.
He said it was an attempt to bring the two parties closer. They succeeded in their efforts which led to revival of the CoD and he had already started a certain exercise in this regard, he said.
The CoD was signed between Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto on May 14, 2006, while living in exile when the country was under military rule of Gen Pervez Musharraf.
The charter sought to ensure civilian supremacy in parliamentary democracy, outline steps to end role of the powerful military establishment in politics, bring consensual constitutional reforms and stand by the constitution in future despite their differences and separate agendas.
However, both sides failed to honor the commitment and soon started trading allegations against each other which led to the charter’s complete breakdown. The first attempts to revive the accord began more than a year ago by both sides amid growing momentum of opposition parties against Imran Khan’s government, which finally led to his ouster earlier this month.
The fresh Bilawal-Sharif meetings in London appear to be the final settlement before the formal announcement of this partnership.
“I had two meetings with him [Mr Sharif] at his office and his home,” he said. “In those meetings, we have decided to revive the Charter of Democracy. We have agreed to take it up from where we had left it, and also bring CoD–two. As for the second version of the charter, we have to build consensus [among the political forces]. I have already started a certain exercise in this regard and the other tasks will be taken up soon.” - Dawn
Courtesy https://www.dawn.com