PM to take parliamentary party into confidence over constitutional amendment

• 224 votes in NA, 64 in Senate needed for constitutional amendment.
• Ruling coalition has 211 lawmakers in NA against opposition's 101.
• PM Shehbaz-led govt needs 13 more votes to amend Constitution.

ISLAMABAD: As the incumbent government prepares to table constitutional amendments in the parliament, Prime Minister Shehbaz decided to take the parliamentary party into confidence over the said matter, sources told Geo News on Saturday.

Sources added that the prime minister has summoned a meeting at the PM House at 7pm today which will be followed by a dinner in honour of the attendees.

The development comes as PM Shehbaz's administration is likely to introduce a "constitutional amendment" in the National Assembly (NA) regarding increasing the retirement age of superior courts' judges — a move vehemently opposed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Article 179 of the Constitution envisages that a judge of the Supreme Court shall hold office until he attains the age of 65 years unless he sooner resigns or is removed from office under the Constitution.

Whereas, Article 195 of the Constitution says that a judge of a high court shall hold office until he attains the age of 62 years unless he sooner resigns or is removed from office following the Constitution.

However, the government intends to increase the retirement age of SC and high court judges to 68 and 65, respectively.

The prospects of the said constitutional amendment come amid rumours and speculations revolving around Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa's extension after the Imran Khan-founded party sought an early issuance of notification regarding the next top judge last month.

The CJP, issuing clarification of his recent "off the record" conversation with journalists, has said that he would not accept any "individual specific" proposal on fixing the tenure of the country's top judge.

Numbers game

The key aspect of the constitutional amendment is that unlike any other legislation, the government will need to secure a two-thirds majority in the parliament to successfully execute it.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that the required number has already been achieved in the NA.

This was also confirmed by the government's Spokesperson on Legal Affairs Barrister Aqeel Malik while speaking on Geo News programme "Naya Pakistan".

In the NA, the ruling coalition needs 224 votes to pass the constitutional amendment, whereas in the Senate the number stands at 64.

Currently, treasury benches have 211 members against the opposition's 101 MNAs meaning that the government needs 13 more votes to pass the said constitutional amendment.

The ruling coalition comprises the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (110); the Pakistan Peoples Party's (68); Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (22); Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (four); Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (four); Pakistan Muslim League-Zia (one); Awami National Party (one) and Balochistan Awami Party (one).

Meanwhile, the opposition comprises 80 MNAs of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) which are supported by PTI-backed independent lawmakers.

The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) has eight members in the NA, whereas Balochistan National Party, Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and Majlis-e-Wahdat-Muslimeen (MWM) have one MNA each in the NA.

Senate numbers

Apart from the NA, the ruling benches of the Senate comprise PPP (24), PML-N (19), Balochistan Awami Party (4) and MQM (3) in addition to the four independent senators.

The total strength of ruling benches stands at 54 as the government is short of nine votes in the Senate to pass the constitutional amendment.

As for the opposition benches in the Senate, PTI holds 17 seats, JUI-F (5), and ANP (3), while SIC, MWM, Balochistan National Party, National Party and PML-Q have one seat each.

In addition to this, there is an independent senator as well on the opposition benches with the total number of opposition senators standing at 31.

Responding to the government's claims regarding achieving the required numbers the PTI's Salman Akram Raja has said that the PM Shehbaz's administration would complete the numbers only through coercion.

A day earlier, JUI-F stopped its Senate members from any kind of voting on the proposed constitutional amendment.

In a letter to the members, JUI-F parliamentary leader Kamran Murtaza said that nothing is clear regarding the constitutional amendment. Therefore, no voting should be done until the written decision of the party leadership is there.