PPP courts Fazl amid push for judicial package

Ruling alliance insists on constitutional court, JUI-F seeks reforms

ISLAMABAD:

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leadership have further contemplated establishing a federal constitutional court, amid ongoing debates over proposed constitutional amendments.

The potential game-changing move has come under the spotlight following a meeting between PPP leaders and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman at his residence on Friday night.

Apart from the proposed constitutional amendments, the overall political situation – arising after the PML-N-led ruling alliance's recent failed attempt to pass the 26th constitutional amendment bill – also came under discussion.

The PPP delegation included Sherry Rehman, Naveed Qamar, Nayyar Bukhari and Murtaza Wahab and it reached Maulana's residence late on Friday night.

The PPP delegation has approached Maulana on the heels of PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's back-to-back meetings with the JUI-F chief to persuade him on the formation of the constitutional courts.

While sharing the agenda meeting, a PPP leader said that the meeting took place to reach a "common minimum agenda on constitutional court and provincial inclusion".

Though the official statement only revealed that both sides discussed the overall political situation, sources within the parties shared that the visit was a part of the ongoing efforts to agree on the bare minimum, to begin with, on the proposed constitutional amendments.

Soon after the government failed to table the constitutional amendment bill in the Parliament despite hurriedly calling sessions of both houses over the weekend, Bilawal has been vocal about establishing a constitutional court, saying there was an urgent need for reforms in the "fractured" judicial system.

Stressing that every citizen should get their fundamental right to timely justice, Bilawal has reiterated his resolve to establish the constitutional court to ensure that no elected prime minister is ever unjustly hanged again.

He also clarified that his party stands against any legislation aimed at benefiting or harming an individual.

In a statement issued by the Media Cell Bilawal House the other day, the PPP chairman highlighted that under his proposed amendments, the constitutional court would provide equal representation to all provinces, with the position of chief justice rotating among them.

Following the meeting, a PPP leader while requesting anonymity shared that Maulana favours the formation of a constitutional court but wishes to set certain terms and conditions for the judges' appointment.

Just days before the PML-N-led ruling coalition made an attempt to secretly table the constitutional amendment bill without even sharing the agenda with its allies, Maulana while addressing a session of the National Assembly had already conveyed that he wanted to see a constitutional court in the country.

In his speech, Maulana had suggested establishing a separate court for deciding cases of constitutional matters so that the backlog of 60,000 doesn't further increase. He also urged the House to truly make parliament a supreme forum by restoring people's confidence in it.

The PML-N-led ruling coalition was left red-faced on September 16 as it failed to table the much-desired constitutional amendment bill of the government after failing to persuade the JUI-F chief to vote in favour of the 'secretly' proposed package.

The ruling alliance had to face sheer embarrassment and humiliation at the hands of the JUI-F chief – once a key ally – as all their strenuous efforts, including calling the sessions of the National Assembly and Senate over the weekend –to get him on board had simply fallen flat on their face.

In a renewed push, the government and its allies have once approached JUIF to get his party's eight votes in NA and five in the Senate. On the contrary, the PTI leadership has also been holding meetings with Maulana to persuade him to not support the government bill.

So far, PTI and JUIF – both sitting on the opposition benches – have thwarted the ruling coalition's move as Maulana has openly said that the government-proposed amendments could not be supported in their current form.

Subsequently, it was reported that the opposition parties were not only engaged in formulating their strategy against the government move but also mulling on bringing their own bill proposing certain constitutional amendments.

In the continuing political standoff, the ruling coalition and JUIF have remained at an impasse over the proposed constitutional package. A flurry of meetings has taken place in and outside the parliament, especially at Maulana's residence, in the past couple of weeks yet the political stalemate continues.

Meanwhile, sources in the ruling coalition revealed that the government is planning to call a session of the National Assembly and Senate on October 7 to make another attempt to pass the proposed constitutional amendments.

They said that attempts were being made to persuade Maulana to support the ruling alliance this time around, saying other options were also being reviewed in case Maulana refused to support again.

They said that the review petition about the interpretation of Article 63 A of the Constitution is fixed before the Supreme Court on September 30, saying the case's outcome would help decide the future course of action.

The PML-N--led ruling coalition intends to modify Article 63 to address the voting process of dissenting members. This is significant for the government as Article 63-A outlined the process to disqualify a lawmaker who votes against the party line in the assembly during the election of the prime minister or chief minister, vote of confidence or no-confidence and budget.

In May 2022, a five-member bench of the Supreme Court, while deciding the presidential reference for the interpretation of the article, said votes of defecting lawmakers would not be counted.

The decision was instrumental in packing up the transient Hamza Shehbaz-led government in Punjab which was formed with the support of 25 dissident PTI lawmakers who voted in favour of the PML-N leader.

Now, the government side is awaiting the outcome of the review petition as its previous attempt to change it via constitutional amendment failed as PML-N failed to convince Maulana Fazl to vote for its constitutional package a few days ago.