'Pakistan's Democracy Faces Challenges, But Not Alone': PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

Islamabad: Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the recently passed 26th Constitutional Amendment was drafted after reaching a "compromise" with other political forces, Geo News reported.

Regarding a question on the weakening of democracy in the country, during an interview with Oxford Union's President Israr Khan, he said that the country was not a 200-year-old democracy and admitted that Pakistan's democracy was not the strongest at the moment but it was not the only state facing this challenge.

He highlighted that the country was facing the same challenges of "populism and post-fact politics and post-shame politics and alternate reality politics" which shook institutions and well-established norms, Geo News reported on Wednesday.

"Perhaps it's not exactly as I would have drafted," said the PPP lawmaker, adding that his party had a "positive contribution" to the contentious legislation as it engaged in talks with the opposition "despite having the votes", as per Geo News.

During the interview, he expressed his views on the status of democracy in Pakistan, legislative business in the parliament, the 26th Amendment and the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Peca) (Amendment) Bill 2025 passed by the coalition government. Bilawal said that the PPP has always and will always continue to fight for democracy, whether it is related to the Constitution, subsequent rights, devolution, individual rights, or other matters.

"Every piece of legislation, politics, rights-based politics, constitution-based politics is done, championed and protected by the People's Party," he said, adding that his party would welcome more criticism to do better, per Geo News.

Commenting on the 26th Amendment, the former foreign minister said that it was a long-standing aim for the charter of democracy which people refer to, to establish a constitutional court in the country.

The 26th Amendment, a judiciary-oriented constitutional package which paved the way for the formation of constitutional benches, was passed by the parliament in October last year, Geo News reported.

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