ISLAMABAD: Two civil society organisations have asked the government to hold meaningful discussions on the proposed constitutional amendments and expand their scope for more holistic reforms in the system.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) election network said the amendments should not only focus on judicial reforms but also change legislative, electoral, and local governance.

Fafen urged political parties to “put aside personal and parochial differences” to avoid a potential deadlock on constitutional reforms.

The reforms should focus on increasing parliament’s authority, ensuring its control over international agreements, making the legislature’s approval mandatory for any treaty with foreign powers or multilateral organisations, it said.

Fafen suggests changes to appointment process for services chiefs, election commissioner; CPDI urges further transparency in judicial affairs

“Currently, the executive independently decides to enter into or exit from international and bilateral agreements such as those with the IMF, which have far-reaching impacts on fiscal policy and measures,” Fafen said, calling for establishing parliamentary oversight of foreign and fiscal policies.

The constitutional amendments should also reform the appointment processes for offices of heads of the judiciary, armed forces and the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Parliament should also be empowered to impeach officials it appoints, including the CEC, other ECP members, and chairpersons of the National Commission on the Status of Women and National Commission for Human Rights.

Parliamentary reforms

Fafen also proposed prohibiting independent candidates from joining political parties after winning the election as it disregards voters’ mandate.

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Any independent candidate wanting to join a party “should seek a fresh mandate from the voters”. It also proposed reforms in the election on reserved seats.

Fafen called for robust local bodies system and “a clearly defined timeline” for their elections to be made part of Constitution.

Judicial reforms

Separately, the Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) has expressed concern over the “secrecy” surrounding the constitutional package and called for public discourse and engagement with civil society, legal professionals and other stakeholders to develop consensus.

In letters to the president, prime minister, law minister and heads of political parties, the CPDI executive director Mukhtar Ahmad Ali said the constitutional changes must include provisions for transparency and the right of access to information about judicial affairs.

He referred to a SC judgement where it excluded the court from the purview of the Right of Access to Information Act, 2017. The superior courts have not devised any rules to enable people to easily access information about their administrative matters, he added.

The CPDI called for the accountability of judges accused of corrupt practices even if they resign.

The judges of higher courts must be required to disclose their income and assets annually, which must be published on relevant websites for easy public access.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2024