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 evolved a 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 failed 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 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 3 pm while the NA session will begin at 4 pm tomorrow.
Meanwhile, a meeting of a special parliamentary committee — containing representatives from all political parties — has also been scheduled for 4 pm today.
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, Moulana 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.
I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.
