PM Shehbaz chairs cabinet meeting to discuss constitutional amendment

ISLAMABAD: After day-long rigorous efforts to bring the treasury and the opposition parties on the same page, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led federal cabinet met late on Saturday night to discuss the contentious 26th constitutional amendment draft.

If approved by the federal cabinet, the draft is likely to be tabled in Senate session expected to begin shortly after it was adjourned till 12.30am today (Sunday). 

The Senate session, chaired by deputy chairman Syedal Khan Nasar, kicked off on late Saturday night but it was adjourned for half an hour till 12.30 am. 

The National Assembly session rescheduled for 9pm today also began shortly after the Senate session only to be adjourned till 11.30am today (Sunday).

In a late night development, the federal cabinet met tonight with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the chair to discuss the much-hyped constitutional amendment.

The meeting was initially scheduled to begin early morning.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, IPP’s Awn Chaudhry and leaders of the allied parties were among the attendees of the key cabinet meeting, said the sources.

After numerous political twists and turns, the government and opposition members ” have reportedly agreed on a joint draft of the 26th Constitutional Amendment.

The draft envisages formation constitutional bench, parliamentary role in appointment of chief justice of the Supreme Court from list of three judges, restructuring of Judicial Council as well as Supreme Judicial Council, and fixing a three-year tenure of chief justice.

If the cabinet approves the draft of the proposed amendments, it will be presented in Senate for approval. The federal cabinet meeting would be held in the PM’s chamber in parliament, said sources. 

The coalition government — the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) after reaching a consensus with JUI-F are expected to table the proposed constitutional amendment bill in the house tonight.

After holding back-to-back meetings with Maulana Fazlur Rehman, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that his party and the JUI-F chief have reached a 100% consensus on the proposed constitutional amendment.

The statement comes as the PPP chief is making last ditch effort to evolve a consensus on the judicial package among all political parties including the PTI.

Constitutional amendments at a glance

As per the draft, approved by the parliamentary body and obtained by Geo News, the commission for appointment of the SC judges would comprise the citing chief justice, four senior most judges of the top court, federal law minister, attorney-general for Pakistan, an advocate nominated by Pakistan Bar Council, two members from the Senate and as many from the National Assembly.

“The question whether any, and if so what, advice was tendered to the president by the cabinet, or the prime minister, shall not be inquired into in, or by, any court, tribunal or other authority”, read the draft.

The constitutional benches, as per the amendment draft, may comprise an equal number of judges from each province.

“The CJP, on completion term of three years, shall stand retired notwithstanding his age superannuation,” reads the draft.

The amendment also proposes a restructuring of the SJC via tweaks to Article 209 of the Constitution and suggests that the body is to comprise the CJP, the two next most senior judges of the SC, and the two most senior chief justices of the high courts.

This is a developing story and is being updated with more details.