Constitutional amendment: NA, Senate sessions summoned on Oct 17

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has summoned separate sessions of the National Assembly and the Senate on October 17 — the very next day of the Shangai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit as the ruling coalition stepped up its efforts to introduce a much touted constitutional package in parliament.

The coalition government has left no stone unturned to evolve consensus on its controversial 'constitutional package' with all political parties regularly holding meetings of the special parliamentary committee — a body led by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Syed Khursheed Shah — to debate the proposed 26th constitutional amendment. 

The constitutional package, among other things, aims to set up a federal constitutional court and fix the tenure of the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) for three years.

Last month, the coalition government made a futile attempt to pass a ‘closely-guarded’ constitutional package amid speculation about a potential extension in the tenure of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa.

However, the government failed to even table the amendments in parliament after JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman refused to support the government's judicial package, leaving the contentious amendments hanging in the balance.

To pass the constitutional amendments, the government needs a two-thirds majority in parliament, with sources claiming that it was short of 13 votes in the National Assembly (NA) and nine in the Senate.

In a statement, the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs said the Senate session will commence at 3pm while the NA session will begin at 4pm tomorrow.

Meanwhile, a meeting of special parliamentary committee — containing representatives from all political parties — has also been scheduled for 4pm today.

Fazl — last man standing 

A tug of war between the government and Maulana Fazl-led JUI-F left the contentious amendments hanging in the balance, with the latter giving mixed signals regarding the contentious judicial package.   

However, the government continued to woo the cleric with Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari spearheading the efforts.

Following a flurry of meetings, Fazl — a day earlier — hinted at closing in on a consensus with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

During his interaction with journalists in Tando Allahyar, Fazl said that the government was ready to remove the contentious points from the proposed draft of the constitutional amendment bill.

“We had rejected the government’s draft [about constitutional tweaks],” he said, adding, “The things we rejected have been withdrawn.” The JUI-F leader was of the view that the government’s proposed amendments would weaken the judiciary and undermine human rights.

After fresh changes, both the parties are now near to reach a consensus, he added.

According to the JUI-F’s draft of the Constitution (26th Amendment) Bill, 2024, the party has proposed the elimination of all kinds of riba (interest) at the state level and in all private institutions by January 1, 2028.

The draft of the constitutional amendment also contained proposed amendments on the establishment of constitutional benches in the Supreme Court and high courts and re-appointment and extension in services of services chiefs.

Nawaz-Bilawal discussions

On the other hand, Bilawal and PML-N president Nawaz Sharif established contact twice in three days; once they held a meeting on Oct 10 and then they held a telephonic conversation on Oct 13.

Bilawal briefed Nawaz on the progress made between the JUI-F and PPP on the constitutional tweaks. Consensus on the 26th constitutional amendment among the political parties also came under discussion between the two leaders.

During their meeting, the former three-time prime minister called for a justice system where institutions and public opinion hold more weight than individual influence.

Nawaz stressed the importance of preventing any single individual from dominating and potentially destabilising Pakistan’s democratic system.

He advocates for a system where no one has the authority to undermine the democratic process at will, ensuring the country and its people are protected from being led into darkness by individual ambitions.

Furthermore, in a post on social media platform ‘X’, the PPP chief said that the 26th constitutional amendment was not being done in a hurry and it was long overdue. He said Justice Dorab Patel had also proposed the idea of a constitutional court to his colleagues at the Human Rights Council of Pakistan (HRCP), Asma Jahangir and I A Rehman, who agreed with him.

He argued on the establishment of the federal constitutional court and provincial constitutional courts. “We never legislate or amend the Constitution at a whim like dictators and judges have so easily done. We work towards our goals for generations,” he wrote on social media platform X.

Bilawal said that Justice Patel was one of the four honourable judges who acquitted former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and denied to become a party to his judicial murder. “He held that there wasn’t the evidence to convict Quaid-e-Awam, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and he did not consider approver as a reliable witness,” he said.