TTAP vows to block proposed 27th amend

Says proposed tweak to shake country's foundations

ISLAMABAD:

An opposition parties' alliance — the Tehreek Tahafuz-e-Aeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP) — has announced blocking all attempts to pass the proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment, which, it says, will "shake the very foundations of the country".

The TTAP on Tuesday convened an emergency meeting in Islamabad under the chairmanship of PkMAP chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai.

Later, addressing a press conference, PTI's Asad Qaiser said PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's social media post with regard to another amendment to the Constitution was deeply concerning.

Bilawal on Monday revealed on X that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif led a PML-N delegation that met him and PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, seeking the PPP's support for passage of the 27th Constitutional Amendment.

"Proposal includes setting up a constitutional court, executive magistrates, transfer of judges, removal of protection of provincial share in the NFC, amending Article 243, return of education and population planning to the federation and breaking deadlock on appointment of the ECP," the post added.

Talking with reference to the post, Asad Qaiser alleged that the PPP was also complicit in this "political drama," the outcome of which had already been decided and was being staged merely to deceive the public.

The PTI leader said there once was a PPP of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who laid the foundation of the Constitution, and another of Benazir Bhutto, who sacrificed her life for democracy. "But today's PPP is working hard to bury democracy," he said.

He questioned PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif's silence, saying, a few years ago, he led a campaign demanding respect for the vote.

"Where has that slogan gone now? What is the worth of the power that is obtained by begging for it? The man who called himself the champion of 'vote ko izzat do' is now quiet."

TTAP leader Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said no Pakistani today doubts that a system of repression has been imposed in the country. "The rights and freedoms that the Constitution guaranteed to citizens have been systematically undermined," he said.

He said people learned about the constitutional amendment only through Bilawal's post.

"When constitutional benches were formed [through the 26th amendment], it was claimed they would improve justice delivery. Now, they are setting up a court whose tenure will be seventy years," he added. He warned that such amendments would reward judges who please the government.

"They are playing games with the judiciary. Judges will be transferred and posted like bureaucrats—those whose decisions are disliked will simply be removed. Which judge, then, will have the courage to stand for justice?"

He said no state institution should usurp the authority of another. He accused the government of wanting to revive the colonial-era black laws once used against the judiciary, media, and civil society.

The former senator added that new amendments were also being introduced regarding the appointment of the chief election commission, which, he said, had "become a joke".