PPP picks Bilawal Bhutto as its parliamentary leader
As efforts to build consensus among all political parties ahead of the highly anticipated tweaks to the Constitution continue, the Pakistan People’s Party has nominated its chairman, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, as the party’s parliamentary leader.
Talking to the media before the Parliament House in Islamabad on Friday, PPP leader and chairperson of the Special Committee of parliament on the constitutional draft Khursheed Shah confirmed his party had nominated Bilawal as the parliamentary leader.
Meanwhile, PPP leader Naveed Qamar has submitted the documents pertaining to the election of the party chairman as the parliamentary leader at the National Assembly Office.
Under the constitution, the parliamentary leader has the authority to compel members to vote on constitutional amendments, finance bills and the election of the prime minister or speaker as per the party policy.
Khursheed said the decision taken by Bilawal would be final and, “God willing, the constitutional amendment would take place”.
“Haste is not good, everything should be done calmly. This is the amendment for which 177 of our workers were martyred today,” he said referring to the 2007 Karachi’s Karsaz blast incident. He said former prime minister Benazir Bhutto had returned to Pakistan to campaign for the same amendment. “We will never let this sacrifice go in vain,” he added.
Meanwhile, Bilawal announced on Friday during a joint parliamentary party meeting that a consensus had been reached in the special parliamentary committee regarding Constitutional Amendments.
He highlighted that the attendance of PPP members in Parliament was better than that of any other party.
Bilawal expressed his gratitude to the members for being present in Islamabad for this crucial session, noting their hard work in achieving agreement on the Constitutional Amendments.
