LAHORE: Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari says judicial reforms have become indispensable in the current circumstances.

In a statement issued on Sunday, she said that no state institution other than the parliament has the right to interpret the Constitution at its “sweet will”, a reference to Supreme Court’s verdicts on reserved seats and Article 63-A.

She said that all state and administrative affairs of a country are run as per the constitution and laws framed by the parliament.

Referring to the constitutional bench suggested in the 26th constitutional amendment, she said the constitutional court was being established in accordance with the Charter of Democracy (CoD) signed by Pakistan People’s Party slain chairperson Benazir Bhutto and PML-N president Nawaz Sharif back in 2006.

The minister said the idea of developing a consensus on the constitutional amendments is good, but engaging with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in this regard is a sheer wastage of time.

She said the PTI incarcerated leader Imran Khan spent 45 minutes scolding his party delegation, that went to discuss constitutional amendments with him the other day. She claimed that even the PTI members themselves are fed up with Imran’s “anti-state activities”.

Ms Bokhari alleged that the founder of PTI is seeking an NRO in return of lending support to the constitutional amendment, “but he would not be granted any relaxation”.

Despite spending a year in jail, the mindset of the PTI leader did not change, she said, adding that Imran wanted another incident like May 9 episode, which would not be allowed to happen.

Published in Dawn, October 21th, 2024