ISLAMABAD : Special Parliamentary Committee Chairman Khursheed Shah chaired the committee session for debate and consensus of all political parties on the proposed constitutional amendment on Saturday.
The committee session concluded with the decision of forming a sub-committee and calling next session on Oct 17.
Leaders of various political parties including PPP’s Raja Pervez Ashraf, Naveed Qamar, Sherry Rehman and PML-N’s Azam Nazir Tarar and Irfan Siddique participated in the meeting.
Barrister Gohar and Omar Ayub representing the PTI also attended the meeting while Asad Qaiser joined the meeting through video link. Ijazul Haq, Farooq Sattar, Aminul Haq National Party’s Jan Buledi also attended the session.
JUI-F PRESENTS ITS DRAFT
The JUI-F presented its draft on the proposed amendment in the session.
However, JUI-F President Fazlur Rehman and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari didn’t join the committee session. The session on joint draft of PPP and JUI-F would be held in Zardari House. On Friday, the PPP presented its draft in committee’s session.
PTI SITS ON THE FENCE
Meanwhile, the PTI didn’t present its draft on the amendment and decided to consider the government ‘s stance. The PTI received the JUI-F and PPP draft on the constitutional amendment.
Matters must be sorted out with dialogue and the opposition should give its suggestions as criticism wouldn’t resolve the issues, Minister Tarar said.
Speaking to media, he said negotiations under the constitutional framework were going on for a month and there was no unconstitutional clause in the amendment.
CONSTITUTIONAL COURT IS QUAID’S VISION
A federal constitutional court was a vision of the Quaid-e-Azam who first gave the idea of that court, said PPP Chairman Bilawal. The PPP, he said, was following Quaid’s vision and also opposed the idea of granting powers to a specific court.
PPP’s Raja Pervez Ashraf stated that the amendment was not related to a specific person and matters were leading towards a positive direction. Ashraf hailed JUI-F’s decision to present a joint draft on the amendment.
Sherry Rehman stated that there were multiple mechanisms in various countries for appointment of judges and such an appointment on the basis of seniority was not a fair mechanism.
FAROOQ SATTAR
Farooq Sattar criticised the PTI for opposing the amendment saying accepting it would undermine PTI’s political interests. The PTI always wanted judicial reforms and could have presented such a bill if it was in power, Sattar emphasised.
During the session, government members berated the PTI protest call at D-Chowk during SCO summit.
Omar Ayub stated that holding protests was the constitutional right of the PTI and highlighted oppression.
FRIDAY’S SESSION
It is pertinent to note that the parliamentary committee’s session was also held on Friday and the PPP and government presented their draft but it remained unfruitful.
The deadlock among political parties remained intact despite Bilawal stressing the need for complete consensus of all political parties on constitutional amendment.
He added that the JUI-F had started deliberations on the draft provided by the government.
According to the JUI-F chief, he had rejected the draft that was provided in the ‘black bag’ and people also supported his stance.
“The JUI-F and PPP will now share the draft with the PTI to reach a consensus,” he added. The veteran politician said the judiciary shouldn’t be divided over the retirement issue of an individual.
“It took nine months to discuss the 18th amendment and therefore, we want to thoroughly study the draft,” he said.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Senator Irfan Siddiqui on Friday said the government was hopeful that a consensus would be reached soon on constitutional amendments.
NUMBER GAME
It is pertinent to note that the PML-N government with the support of the PPP was all set to make an amendment to the constitution but the government needed two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament.
The government is making efforts to woo Maulana Fazlur Rehman to get his party support for the required votes for passing the amendment.
However, the PTI opposed the amendment and labelled it an attack on judiciary and urged Fazl to reject the amendment.
The amendment is related to judicial reforms including the establishment of a constitutional court, and increase in the retirement age of judges.
