SC to hear petition against proposed constitutional amendment on Oct 17
The Supreme Court (SC) on Saturday fixed for hearing on October 17 a petition seeking a declaration that the government’s much-touted constitutional amendments cannot be introduced or enacted by parliament.
The much-talked-about Constitutional Package is legislation proposing a set of constitutional amendments, including the extension of the top judge’s term.
Experts fear that the proposed amendments would virtually erode the independence of the judiciary by restricting the Supreme Court to only hearing appeals or petitions of civil and criminal nature.
Perturbed by the government’s plans, a group of lawyers, led by former Supreme Court Bar Association Abid Shahid Zuberi had moved a petition before the apex court in September to restrain the government from tabling the bill before parliament.
JUI-F, PPP express hope to agree on joint draft
Meanwhile, consensus on the amendment took another step today as the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) expressed the hope of agreeing on a shared draft together with the PPP, the ruling coalition’s partner. Three separate drafts of the constitutional package are being prepared — one by the government, the second by the PPP, and the third by the JUI-F.
The committee, led by PPP’s Khursheed Shah, has the representation of all parties, including the PTI. It was formed by the National Assembly speaker for reconciliation among lawmakers, particularly between the PTI and the government, after a raid by plainclothesmen to round up the PTI men from the Parliament House.
The parliamentary committee meeting took place yesterday where major political parties shared their drafts with each other, but only the PPP made its proposals public.
The parliamentary committee discussed the drafts threadbare, even though no decision was made.
During the meeting today, the special committee decided to form a subcommittee to consider the drafts submitted by the JUI-F and the PPP. The meeting was later adjourned till Monday at 3:30 pm.
