‘Political suicide’: Bilawal says PTI paved the way for KP emergency

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Wednesday urged the federal government to make another attempt at political dialogue with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), even as he defended the decision to impose emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and held the provincial government responsible for the circumstances leading to it.

Speaking in the National Assembly, Bilawal said emergency was a temporary measure and could not serve as a permanent solution to terrorism. He called for cooperation between the federal and provincial governments, stressing that a wider national response was necessary to address the security situation.

The assembly was debating the Centre’s decision to impose emergency and governor’s rule in KP, with the federal government accusing the provincial administration of deliberately disengaging from counterterrorism efforts. The question hour was suspended to allow the debate to proceed.

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhry tabled the motion concerning the proclamation of emergency, while Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar opened the discussion. Opposition lawmakers were seated calmly at the beginning of the proceedings, without staging a protest.

A central part of Bilawal’s address concerned talks held on Oct 3 between a joint delegation of the PPP and the government and opposition representatives. He said he had been informed late that night that the negotiations were close to succeeding.

According to the PPP chairman, the PTI was prepared to designate areas in KP experiencing a rise in terrorist activity as “terrorist areas”. The parties were also close to agreeing on a pact under which the federal and provincial governments would coordinate their efforts against terrorism. The negotiations, however, ultimately broke down.

Bilawal said the federal government had attempted to reach an understanding with the opposition before moving towards emergency. He maintained that the PTI leadership, particularly at the provincial level, had contributed to the political and legal circumstances that led to the decision.

“The PTI itself carried out a political suicide attack on its KP government,” he said, arguing that the party’s actions and statements had weakened the grounds for opposing the constitutional measure.
He cited remarks attributed to KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi that he would not fight terrorism in the manner demanded by the Centre.

He also questioned whether the opposition and the provincial chief minister had left President Asif Ali Zardari with any legal or political basis to refuse to approve the emergency proclamation. Bilawal referred to the president’s role in the passage of the 18th Amendment while making his argument.

Bilawal said the emergency had been imposed under constitutional provisions and that the Centre had tried to engage the opposition before taking the step.

He said the PPP had argued that the government should exhaust efforts to reach an agreement with PTI and address federal concerns about the provincial administration’s role in the fight against terrorism before resorting to what he called a “constitutional atomic bomb”.