• Law minister claims ‘working draft’ to be fine-tuned in light of other parties’ recommendations
• Irfan Siddiqui claims Fazl hasn’t ‘rejected’ package, rather sought more time to peruse it
• PM meets PPP delegation after their talks with JUI-F, says consultations with all parties will continue

ISLAMABAD: The much-touted ‘Constitu­tional Package’ could not see the light of day on Monday either, as the government backed out of tabling the proposed amendments in parliament, saying that it would bring the legislation before the house after a consensus had been achieved.

Despite its tall claims of having the required numbers for the passage of a constitutional amendment, the key reason behind shying away from tabling the amendments — for now — appears to be the JUI-F’s stonewalling tactics.

Efforts to engage the Maulana, however, continued through backdoor channels.

Though it was not tabled in parliament, the draft for the proposed constitutional amendments began circulating on mainstream and social media on Monday morning, giving the public a peep into the government’s plan for the judiciary.

According to PML-N leaders, the draft was not the final document, as the government intends to incorporate the demands of the opposition parties.

Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said on the floor of the National Assembly that it was a working paper shared with the parliamentary party in its special committee’s meeting and not the final draft.

In a TV appearance, PM’s aide on legal affairs Barrister Aqeel Malik said, “There were some objections to some of the clauses of the proposed bill, that was why it could not be tabled in parliament [on Monday].”

“We want to get the bill passed with consensus. The government was ready to make changes to the proposed package. We will not table it till a broader consensus is reached,” he said.

PML-N leader Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, while appearing on a TV show, said the government would make another attempt in the next two to three weeks to get the package approved. He said the government required 13 votes from the opposition benches to meet the requirement of a two-thirds majority for the constitutional amendment.

PM meets PPP delagation

Later on Monday night, a PPP delegation led by Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari called on PM Shehbaz Sharif, where both sides exchanged notes over efforts to secure support for the ‘Constitutional Package’.

According to the PM Office, both sides discussed the proposed amendment in detail and agreed to expand the scope of consultations over the move.

PM Shehbaz told the delegates that amending the Constitution was parliament’s sovereign right, adding that the proposed changes were aimed at providing immediate and effective justice to the people.

Saying that the process of consultation over the move would continue, the PM asked Mr Bhutto-Zardari and other PPP leaders to continue to play their role in the consultative process.

Fazl ‘hasn’t rejected’ amendment

Sources say that while the JUI-F and the PTI have agreed to most of the clauses of the proposed package, including the formation of a constitutional court, they have rejected a proposal regarding the extension in the service of chief justice and other judges of the Supreme Court.

The announcement that the tabling of the ‘Constitutional Package’ had been postponed was shared by Senator Irfan Siddiqui, who said the proposed package “will not be tabled” in the two houses of parliament on Monday after which the sessions of the Senate and the National Assembly were prorogued.

Talking to Dawn, Senator Siddiqui said the draft circulated in the media was not the final document as it needed to be fine-tuned in consultation with all parliamentary parties.

He claimed that JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had not rejected the package and agreed with most of its clauses, but wanted more time to review the amendments.

The senator was hopeful that the government would come up with better homework in the next two weeks or so to present the proposed package in parliament after thorough consultations with all stakeholders.

He claimed no parliamentary party, including the PTI, raised objections to the proposed constitutional court so that the matters related to the constitution could be decided there and not in the Supreme Court, which has a backlog of over 60,000 pending cases.

Senator Siddiqui said one of the reasons for shelving the plan was that the government had kept all parliamentarians in the ruling alliance in the federal capital for the last week and it had become difficult for them to stay in the capital.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2024