Faisal Vawda calls government incompetent and ineffective

Faisal Vawda criticises government over its inability to pass the proposed constitutional amendment.

Senator Faisal Vawda labeled the federal government as incompetent and ineffective.

After the Senate session, a journalist asked why the constitutional amendment couldn't be passed despite two days of commotion. In response, Faisal Vawda said, "This is exactly what you can expect from the incompetent and useless."

He further added, "The so-called champions of politics are coming; ask them what they have accomplished

Earlier, a continuing political standoff, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led ruling coalition and the Jamiat Ulma-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman remained at an impasse over the proposed constitutional package.

Both the National Assembly and Senate  ended their sessions without progress as the political leadership couldn't agree on draft amendments in a flurry of meetings that continued throughout the day, prolonging the political stalemate and delaying any potential resolution.

After changing the timing of the federal cabinet meeting and the parliamentary sessions, efforts were made to build consensus over changes in the package at Maulana's residence and during the special committee's meetings held at Parliament House.

The special committee meetings, chaired by Khursheed Shah of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), met frequently but ended without reaching a resolution to the contentious issues, leaving the deadlock on the constitutional amendments unresolved.

The government presented the main points of the proposed amendments, but the draft was not provided to anyone. However, Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said that the draft was shared with the JUI-F leadership.

However, JUI-F spokesperson Aslam Ghauri told The Express Tribune that no draft was shared with the party and everything was discussed verbally, adding that supporting what had not been shared in writing was difficult.

The opposition, including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), argued that it would be premature to commit to any details once the draft was made available. Following the committee meeting, PPP leader Khursheed Shah said that consultations were ongoing within the committee.

Khursheed Shah explained that the draft of the proposed constitutional amendments could not be released until it was approved by the federal cabinet—a prerequisite for passing the constitutional amendment bills before they passed through parliament.

Sources said that the deadlock persisted on the extension of the chief justice of Pakistan and the establishment of the constitutional courts. They said that the JUI-F had so far been opposing any extension and raised several questions.