ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari is expected to sign the 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill into law today (Monday) on the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, following its approval by Parliament.
The Aiwan-e-Sadr Secretariat confirmed that the signing ceremony time will be announced today.
This move follows the ruling coalition’s success in passing the controversial judicial reforms through Parliament with a two-thirds majority—225 votes in the National Assembly and 65 in the Senate. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) boycotted the voting process in protest.
Under the new judicial reforms, the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) will now be appointed by a parliamentary committee for a fixed term of three years.
Additionally, the reforms introduce the establishment of constitutional benches within the Supreme Court and high courts.
After a late-night session in Parliament, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sent a formal request to President Zardari early Monday morning to sign the legislation into law.
The ruling coalition, with 211 seats in the National Assembly, required 224 votes for the bill’s passage.
However, its numbers rose to 219 with the support of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F). The bill passed after several independent lawmakers and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) members also voted in favor.
Key provisions of the 26th Amendment Bill:
Riba (interest) will be fully eradicated from the country by January 1, 2028.
The tenure of the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) is fixed at three years.
Constitutional benches will be established in the Supreme Court and high courts.
The senior-most judge of each bench will serve as the presiding officer.
A parliamentary committee will nominate the new CJP from the three most senior judges.
The committee will propose the name to the prime minister, who will forward it to the president for final approval.
The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), led by the CJP, will be responsible for appointing Supreme Court judges and monitoring their performance, reporting concerns to the Supreme Judicial Council.
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.
