PM Shehbaz takes allies on board over ‘constitutional package’

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif speaks at the banquet he hosted for coalition lawmakers; and (right) the screen grab shows members of the ruling coalition parties listening to the speech.—White Star

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday took all allied parties into confidence over the proposed constitutional package on the judiciary, which includes a bill to fix the tenure of the Chief Justice of Pakistan at three years. It is exp­ected to be introduced in parliament today (Sunday).

A source, who attended the meeting, told Dawn it was decided that the constitutional package will be first presented in the federal cabinet meeting today (Sunday), and after its app­r­o­val, it will be tabled in parliament. The source said the premier took all allies into confidence and urged lawmakers from the ruling alliance to ensure their presence in both houses of parliament — the Senate and National Ass­embly — today (Sunday).

Later, PM Shehbaz also held another meeting with his legal team to review a significant decision of the Supreme Court that ord­ered the Election Commi­ssion of Pakistan (ECP) to implement its July 12 judgement restoring 41 reserved seats of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

Usually sessions of the Senate and NA do not take place on holidays, but both houses met on Saturday, and are likely to meet on Sunday too, apparently to get the constitutional package passed without any further delay. Most probably, the package will be first introduced in the Senate and then in the National Assembly.

The source said the SC judgement disturbed the government’s plan and, therefore, the constitutional package could not be laid in parliament on Saturday.

The dinner-meeting, convened by PM Shehbaz, was attended by leaders from all allied parties, except the PPP, as its chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari was hosting a separate dinner for his party’s legislators simultaneously.

It has also been learnt that some of the lawmakers of the ruling allies were not in the country and as result the government delayed the tabling of the constitutional package in parliament by one day. PM’s son Hamza Shehbaz was also out of the country and he returned on Saturday night.

‘Required votes in hand’

Meanwhile, PM’s Adviser on Law Barrister Aqeel told reporters outside the Parliament House that the SC verdict regarding PTI’s reserved seats will not affect the tabling of the constitutional package, claiming that the government has the required number of votes in hand.

Senator Irfan Siddiqui of the PML-N said the government enjoyed two-thirds majority in both the Senate and National Assembly to get the constitutional package passed. He said one of the reasons that the package could not introduced in parliament on Saturday was that the government’s legal team was giving final touches to the package after consultations with the ruling allies.

In the National Assembly, PTI leaders said the government could not table the constitutional package unless it was approved by the federal cabinet.

Mr Siddiqui said first the package will be placed before the federal cabinet today (on Sunday) and then it will be laid in parliament.

The coalition government intends to table a constitutional amendment bill which aims to fix the tenure of CJP at three years and increase the number of Supreme Court judges from 17 to 23 to remove backlog of cases.

However, uncertainty persists regarding the retrospective application of the new legislation, specifically whether it will take effect from the appointment CJP Faez Isa or from the date of its passage by parliament and subsequent presidential assent.

For the passage of the constitutional package, the government requires the support of two-thirds majority — 224 votes out of a total of 336 members in the National Assembly. Presently, the ruling coalition has 212 seats and eyes on JUI-F’s eight seats and four others from the opposition to get the package passed. Although three mainstream opposition parties have warned their members that they could be de-seated from the NA or the Senate if they vote in favour of the package, social media is circulating names of certain PTI lawmakers who have allegedly pledged support to the ruling coalition.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2024

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