Govt poised to table 'final draft' of 26th Constitutional Amendment in Senate, National Assembly today

• Federal cabinet "to give a go-ahead" to final draft after changes. 
• JUI-F to vote on constitutional tweaks 'after PTI's response'.
• Bilawal says PPP and JUI-F reached '100% consensus' on draft.
  

ISLAMABAD: The government is poised to table the final draft of the proposed constitutional amendments in both houses of the parliament today — a day after rigourous efforts to bring the treasury and opposition parties on the same page.

Federal Minister for Law Azam Nazeer Tarar, in a press conference held in the wee hours of Sunday, said that the federal cabinet will hold another sitting at 2:30pm today to review and approve the final draft of the contentious 26th Constitutional Amendment.

The ruling and opposition parties continued to hold separate meetings to attain the desired outcome before the cabinet finally met on late Saturday night to discuss the constitutional tweaks, after multiple delays. 

The minister, flanked by Information Minister Ataullah Tarar, informed journalists that the cabinet members were briefed over the draft approved by parliament's special committee during the meeting.

He went on to say that the federal cabinet would give a go-ahead to the final draft after making modifications recommended by the special committee — which comprises the treasury and the opposition lawmakers.

If approved by the federal cabinet, the draft will likely be introduced in the Senate and National Assembly during today's sessions scheduled for 3pm and 6pm, respectively. 

The law minister expressed optimism that the voting on the draft of the proposed legal reforms will be conducted after it is tabled in today's sessions. 

The coalition government now maintains that it has achieved the 'magic number' to pass the tweaks to the Constitution, however, the tabling of the judicial package in the parliament was facing delays due to attempts being made to evolve broader consensus among all political parties.

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

Last month, the coalition government made a futile attempt to pass the constitutional package. However, it failed to even table the amendments in the parliament after the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman refused to support the government's judicial package, leaving the contentious amendments hanging in the balance. 

After numerous political twists and turns, the government and opposition members reportedly agreed on a joint draft of the 26th Constitutional Amendment on Friday. 

The draft envisages the formation of the constitutional bench, parliamentary role in appointment of chief justice of the Supreme Court from a list of three judges, restructuring of the Judicial Council as well as the Supreme Judicial Council, and fixing a three-year tenure of chief justice.

However, Fazl — who remains the centre of attention for all the political parties — has now said that his party will be able to cast its votes in favour of the amendments to Constitution after receiving a response from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on whether to support the judicial package or not in the parliament, as the former ruling party has sought a day's time for consultation with the senior leadership.

Talking to the media along with PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari late night, the veteran politician said that his party reached a consensus on the constitutional package after the government agreed to remove all those parts which were not acceptable to the JUI-F.

He said that most parts on which his party took exception to have been resolved, adding the JUI-F took the PTI into confidence on the negotiations with the ruling parties.

Fazl said he believed the key opposition party seeking more time was justified, hence, he agreed to it.

Earlier today, after holding back-to-back meetings with Maulana Fazl, Bilawal said his party and the JUI-F had reached a 100% consensus on the proposed constitutional amendment.

The statement comes as the PPP chief made a last-ditch effort to evolve a consensus on the judicial package among all political parties, including the PTI. 

Constitutional amendments at a glance

As per the draft, approved by the parliamentary body and obtained by Geo News, the commission for appointment of the SC judges would comprise the citing chief justice, four senior-most judges of the top court, federal law minister, attorney-general for Pakistan, an advocate nominated by Pakistan Bar Council, two members from the Senate and as many from the National Assembly.

“The question whether any, and if so what, advice was tendered to the president by the cabinet, or the prime minister, shall not be inquired into in, or by, any court, tribunal or other authority”, read the draft.

The constitutional benches, as per the amendment draft, may comprise an equal number of judges from each province.

"The CJP, on completion term of three years, shall stand retired notwithstanding his age superannuation," reads the draft.

The amendment also proposes a restructuring of the SJC via tweaks to Article 209 of the Constitution and suggests that the body is to comprise the CJP, the two next most senior judges of the SC, and the two most senior chief justices of the high courts.