Islamabad
\nThe National Assembly on Monday approved a legislative amendment to extend the tenures of all armed services chiefs from three to five years.
\nDefence Minister Khawaja Asif presented amendments to the Pakistan Army, Navy, and Air Force Acts, which were passed by majority vote amidst intense protests from opposition members. This amendment will extend the tenure of the Chief of Army Staff and heads of other military branches to five years, standardising service durations across all branches.
\nEarlier, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar also presented proposals to increase the number of judges in the Supreme Court and Islamabad High Court, which were subsequently approved by the House.
\nTarar presented the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Ordinance for parliamentary approval, proposing an increase in the number of Supreme Court judges to 34. As the bill was introduced, the opposition erupted into chaos, raising slogans and protesting.
\nDespite the disruption, the minister briefed the assembly on the provisions of the bill, highlighting the backlog of thousands of pending cases at the Supreme Court\u2019s registry, which necessitates the increase in judicial capacity.
\nAdditionally, the law minister introduced the Islamabad High Court Amendment Bill 2024, explaining that the number of judges in the High Court would be raised from nine to 12.
\nThe amendment bill proposes changes, including a provision allowing appeals against decisions made by constitutional benches under Article 184(3) to be heard by a larger constitutional bench within 30 days, if possible. This amendment applies retroactively to cases before the 26th Constitutional Amendment.
\nFurther additions, including Sections 7-A and 7-B, mandate that cases will follow a \u201cfirst-in, first-out\u201d basis for hearings. Another key change requires that proceedings for every case, matter, or appeal in the Supreme Court be officially recorded, with transcripts available to the public upon request.
\nThe amendment specifies that court proceedings will be recorded, and official copies will be accessible to the public for a nominal fee of Rs50 per page. Verified copies of these records can be used for legal purposes, thereby increasing transparency in judicial processes.
\nImmediately after the law minister and the defence minister presented the bills, the National Assembly proceeded with voting despite ongoing noisy protests from the opposition and approved the amendments. During the voting session, opposition members disrupted proceedings, chanting slogans, surrounding the Speaker\u2019s dais, and tearing copies of the bill in protest.
\nThe uproar escalated, with some members engaging in physical altercations.
\nThese legislative moves reflect the government\u2019s focus on judicial reform and the standardisation of military leadership tenures, addressing institutional demands and fostering continuity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad The National Assembly on Monday approved a legislative amendment to extend the tenures of all armed services chiefs from three to five years. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif presented amendments to the Pakistan Army, Navy, and Air Force Acts, which were passed by majority vote amidst intense protests from opposition members. This amendment will extend …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":72524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72514"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72527,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72514\/revisions\/72527"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}