Constitutional package bill to be tabled in Senate today: Irfan Siddiqui

• 90% of work on amendments completed: Senator Siddiqui.
• Says govt also accepted recommendations from JUI-F.
• Draft not against public opinion, judiciary powers, he says.
  

ISLAMABAD: Ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Parliamentary Leader in Senate Irfan Siddiqui said on Thursday that the bill on contentious constitutional package would be tabled in the upper house of the parliament on Friday (today) after "three parties reached consensus on a comprehensive draft".

Siddiqui, speaking to journalists in the parliament after attending a special committee meeting on constitutional reforms, detailed that a final draft would be finalised by Friday evening and presented before the Senate in today's session.

He said that Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar gave a briefing on the draft in the meeting, adding that Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Senator Kamran Murtaza also expressed optimism about the proposed amendments.

According to Siddiqui, 90% of the work on the amendments has been completed, and hopefully, the package will be tabled in the Senate on Friday.

Substantial progress has been made on the proposed constitutional amendments package, with just a few finishing touches needed, he added.

Siddiqui's assertion referred to the coalition government's claims of securing 'magic number' in parliament as the two-thirds majority required to pass the constitutional amendment.  

Signalling a consensus between the ruling PML-N, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and the JUI-F, he said religio-political party chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had shown a "general agreement" on all matters.

He said that "it is a matter of give and take" and the coalition government has also accepted recommendations from the politico-religious party. Those points which drew reservations from major parties have been precisely modified [in today's meeting], he added.

The PML-N senator claimed that they saw a "very comprehensive draft" in the meeting today in which judiciary-related constitutional reforms were added. He clarified that the proposed amendments were neither affecting public opinion nor curtailing judiciary powers.

Siddiqui's remarks came after Geo News learnt via sources that the ruling coalition took a step back on the matter of the constitutional court and reached a consensus with all parties, including the opposition, on the formation of a constitutional bench.

After high-level discussions, four leaders of the major opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the coalition government's ally PPP claimed an agreement had been reached among all the political parties on the formation of the constitutional bench, as per the insiders.

However, the Imran Khan-founded party a day ago announced staging a countrywide protest today to resist the proposed 26th constitutional package a day after the PPP and the JUI-F forged consensus on the joint draft.

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.

The government had attempted to present the bill to amend the Constitution last month, but its allies as well as members from the opposition benches vehemently opposed the proposal, forcing the ruling parties to begin a consultation process.

To pass the constitutional amendments, the government requires a two-thirds majority in parliament, with sources indicating a shortfall of 13 votes in the National Assembly and nine in the Senate.

— With additional input from APP