• JUI-F leader’s aide terms incumbent regime ‘a failure’; demands ’free and fair elections
• Barrister Aqeel says govt will table amendment in first week of October; claims Fazl will agree to draft by then

KARACHI: After dashing the government’s hopes of smoothly passing a much-touted ‘Constitutional Package’, the JUI-F went a step further on Sunday, dubbing the Shehbaz Sharif-led ruling coalition a “failure” and demanding that free and fair elections be held immediately.

Meanwhile, the government, which is seemingly in no mood to back down from bringing a constitutional amendment, said it would convene the National Assembly in the first week of October to seek approval for the controversial ‘Package’.

Despite the confidence shown by key members of the coalition government — including leaders of the PML-N and PPP — that they would be able to reach an agreement with the JUI-F, the top leadership of Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s party is showing no signs of flexibility.

In a fiery address in Karachi on Sunday night, Maulana Fazalur Rehman once again criticised the government for “violating Consti­tutional norms for the sake of political gain”.

In a thinly veiled attack on the ruling coalition, he said the mechanism of governance had put the sanity of every institution at stake.

“We firmly believe in democratic norms and democratic values, but it is the supremacy of the Constitution which actually guarantees democratic norms and values,” he said.

He said his party had always supported the idea of amendments to the Constitution considering the need of the hour, which can change with the passage of time and given circumstances.

“But you have to follow the process and respect the rules for bringing any change through parliament,” he said, questioning the government’s “intentions and fairness” over the proposed ‘Constitutional Package’. He maintained that those who claimed they wanted to bring reforms were not willing to share the details of such changes.

“What’s good in these amendments and what reforms are you bringing that you can’t even share,” the Maulana said, referring to his earlier gripe that the draft of the proposed amendment had not been shared with their party.

“Neither the opposition has a draft [of the proposed amendments], nor do the people know about any such document. Here, every institution wants to interfere in the other’s mandate. These can’t be called reforms by any means,” he said.

The Maulana, who is known for being a flexible political actor and has previously allied himself with the government of the day on most occasions, said his party couldn’t allow any move that compromised human rights or undermined the judicial system.

Earlier, senior JUI-F leader Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri had called PM Shehbaz’s government “a complete failure” and incapable of completing its term.

Criticising the government for “losing its writ” in every part of the country, he warned the situation could take a turn for the worse if the current set-up continued.

“They are unable to run the government… We believe free and fair elections should be held without any further delay and the government should be handed over to those who come into power with the people’s support. Unfortunately, in both previous elections — in 2018 and 2024 — the people’s mandate was stolen and fake governments were put in place,” he said.

‘Ongoing process’

Separately, speaking to DawnNewsTV’s Nadir Guramani, PM’s aide Barrister Aqeel Malik said that approving the package is an “ongoing process” and stressed the need for consensus before it is presented in parliament.

Mr Malik confirmed that of the 55 amendments proposed, amendments to Articles 8 (laws inconsistent with or in derogation of fundamental rights to be void) and Article 243 (command of Armed Forces) had been withdrawn.

Asked if amendments to Article 243 would extend the terms of CJP Qazi Faez Isa and Chief of Army Staff Gen Asim Munir, Mr Malik replied, “You can relate this to that, but the age limit is still under consideration. We need to start somewhere.”

Mr Malik added that the proposed age limit is being discussed, with a range of 66-68. “We do not want to put an age limit in place where some people would be ruled in or ruled out,” he added.

“This is not person-specific,” he emphasised. “Every­one is under consideration.”

Asked if there was a final draft, Mr Malik clarified that there will be one by March or April next year. “We have taken our allies onboard. We also did our homework on Maulana sahib before calling the meeting,” he added, referring to the chief.

“Maulana sahib received two detailed briefings from the law minister… we have removed some of the things he had reservations with”, the PM’s aide explained.

“With regards to age, there are issues that persist which our teams are working on.”

When asked why the Maulana did not agree to the amendments, Mr Malik replied that they were unable to reach an understanding with the JUI-F chief regarding two or three clauses mentioned.

“I expect that by the first week of October, Maulana sahib will agree to the clauses,” he said. “By that time we will have reached a broader consensus with the opposition.

He is developing his own working paper, as is Bilawal.“

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2024