ISLAMABAD: The PTI has chided the government for its “ulterior motives” behind the 26th Consti­tutional Amend­ment and announced protests against the legislation.

A statement, issued by a party spokesperson after the Senate passed the amendments with four votes against the bill cast by PTI and its allies, was in stark contrast to the remarks made earlier on Sunday by the PTI chairman, who said his party had “no objections” to the final draft but would not vote for it in parliament.

Gohar Ali Khan spoke to the media in the afternoon after what was probably the last of his numerous visits to the residence of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman for deliberations on the constitutional amendments.

“Our leader Imran Khan will always have the final say on party decisions, so we act on his instructions and recommendations,” the PTI chairman said, adding Mr Khan had instructed the party to have more consultations before voting “since this legislation is so serious”.

“Given that we have no time for further consultations, as well as all the delays, how the bill was processed and how our MNAs and senators were harassed and intimidated, the PTI cannot vote for this bill,” Mr Gohar declared.

When the Senate session began, some PTI senators were present in the house.

PTI’s parliamentary leader in Senate, Barrister Ali Zafar, said only four to five members are present as the rest were afraid that “they’d be coerced to vote in favour of the amendment”. He expressed appr­e­hension that some PTI members might be “brought” to the house to vote in favour of the amendment.

However, that didn’t happen, as only four members on the opposition benches first voted against the motion to table the bill and then against the amendments, which were passed after getting the required two-thirds vote.

PTI lawmakers ‘untraceable’

Earlier, in a video message, former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser said it was “unfortunate” that the PTI founding chairman was imprisoned and not allowed to meet anyone.

He alleged that MNAs and their families were being threatened when the house of one PTI member was bulldozed. PTI leaders also claimed on Sunday that some of their lawmakers were untraceable.

PTI central leader Omar Ayub Khan said they were unable to contact seven lawmakers, while Mr Gohar put the number at two. Both didn’t name any of the lawmakers.

However, sources confirmed that as many as 11 members of both houses were missing since Sunday morning.

Of them, nine were National Assembly members and two senators. According to sources, the “missing” legislators included MNAs Zain Qureshi, Zahoor Hussain Qureshi, Muhammad Aslam Ghumman, Usman Ali, Riaz Fatyana, Muhammad Miqdad Ali Khan, Aurangzeb Khan Khichi, Mubarak Zeb and Muhammad Ilyas Choudhary. The two senators were Faisal Saleem and Zarqa Suharwardy.

Reaction to amendment

In a statement, the PTI spokesperson claimed the 26th Constitutional Amendment was passed by a house that was “not a representative of people”.

The statement said it was a “Black Day” and announced plans to start a movement against the amendment.

“The goal of the amendment is nothing but to protect those who have been brought into the government through forgery.”

The doors of politics have been closed on PTI, Imran Khan and 240 million people of Pakistan. The independence of the judiciary has been curtailed, and the court has been made a tool that will act on the government’s directions,“ the PTI spokesperson added.

The aim of this legislation is to “stop the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court from becoming chief justice,” the statement said while referring to Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, who, before the amendment, was set to become the top judge after the incumbent’s retirement later this month. “It is unfortunate that the government ran from pillar to post to pass the amendment, but it has done nothing for the people of Pakistan and will not lessen their woes.”

The judiciary, which the PTI spokesperson called the only frontier of resistance “has been removed from the way of powers that be”.

The legislation to nominate one of the top three SC judges as the chief justice will make the judges “a tool of the government”.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2024