All the political parties, including the opposition, have finally reached a consensus on the formation of a constitutional bench after the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) took a step back on the matter of the constitutional court, sources privy to the development claimed.
After high-level discussions, four leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the PPP claimed an agreement had been reached among all the political parties on the formation of the constitutional bench, as per the insiders.
This comes after another meeting of the special committee on constitutional amendments draft concluded on Thursday. The parliamentary committee’s meeting has been adjourned till noon on Friday (tomorrow).
The constitutional package, among other things, aims to set up a federal constitutional court and fix the tenure of the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) for three years.
The government had attempted to present the bill to amend the Constitution last month, but its allies as well as members from the opposition benches vehemently opposed the proposal, forcing the ruling parties to begin a consultation process.
To pass the constitutional amendments, the government requires a two-thirds majority in parliament, with sources indicating a shortfall of 13 votes in the National Assembly and nine in the Senate.
In his remarks after the today’s meeting, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan said the government presented its third draft on the judicial package. In its third draft, the government had talked about a constitutional bench instead of court, he said.
“The government has not yet brought up its complete draft,” he added.
The PTI chief said he would later hold a meeting with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on the matter as well.
Earlier, the PTI chief claimed that the coalition government’s seven Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) would vote against the proposed constitutional amendments.
