PM courts allies over 27th amendment

Draft bill seeking constitutional role for field marshal to be submitted to Senate today

ISLAMABAD:

As Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif meets his allies to rally support for the proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment, further details emerge about the draft package, which — among other things — seeks to establish a constitutional role for the field marshal.

The draft of the proposed amendment, seen by The Express Tribune, will be submitted to the Senate today (Friday) after its approval by the federal cabinet.

On Thursday, the PM held meetings with the delegations of multiple parties in apparent efforts by the PML-N government to prepare the ground to get a 27th amendment approved by parliament.

Among those he met was a seven-member delegation of the MQM-P, led by the party convener, Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui. A statement by the PM's Office said "discussion and consultation took place on the proposed 27th amendment" during the meeting.

The delegation also included Sindh Governor Kamran Khan Tessori, Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal, Members of National Assembly Dr Farooq Sattar, Jawed Hanif Khan, Syed Aminul Haque and Khawaja Izharul Hassan, the statement added.

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Economic Affairs Minister Ahad Khan Cheema, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry and Adviser to the PM Rana Sanaullah were also present in the meeting.

The PM and his team also met with delegations of the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) and the PML-Q. IPP leaders Abdul Aleem Khan and Aun Chaudhry were part of the delegation. Khan and Chaudhry are also part of the federal cabinet.

Another statement by the PM Office said the premier also met a delegation of the PML-Q, which was led by Minister for Overseas Pakistanis ChaudhrySalik Hussain. The delegation also included Senator Kamil Ali Agha and MNAs Ilyas Choudhary and Farukh Khan.

The PM also held separate meetings with BAP party President Khalid Hussain Magsi, Senator Manzoor Ahmed Kakar, PML-Z MNA Ijazul Haq, NP lawmaker Mir Pullain Baloch, ANP President Aimal Wali Khan and Senator Umar Farooq.

"Discussions and consultations were held on the proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment during the meetings," a statement said.

Highlights of amendment package

Under the proposed amendments, a nine-member Constitutional Court will be established in place of the current constitutional bench of the Supreme Court. It is also proposed that the upper age limit for judges of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court be raised to 70 years.

As per the draft, in case of a deadlock over the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner, the matter will be referred to the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP).

The amendment also seeks to reduce the role of the president and the prime minister in the appointment of judges of the higher judiciary, while enhancing the powers of the JCP.

An amendment to Article 243 will be introduced to grant constitutional protection to the position of field marshal. The field marshal will also be given constitutional powers, and the proposed constitutional amendment stipulates that the title of field marshal will be held for life.

It has been suggested that the federal government receive an additional 10% share from the provinces' allocated portion in the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, while consensus will be sought on transferring the sectors of education and health to the federal government.

Sources said the PPP is not ready to constitutionally grant further powers to local government (LG) institutions. The proposal to grant more powers to local bodies will be discussed further.

A day earlier, the MQM-P had demanded that LGs be given autonomy in the proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment after the PPP revealed key features of the proposed amendment for which the PML-N-led government sought its support.

The party said that after provincial autonomy had been granted under the 18th Amendment of 2010, the "next step naturally is local autonomy, so it's turn must come".

"The important thing that we also said at the time of the 26th Amendment, that our constitutional amendment package be included," MQM-P leader Farooq Sattar said during a presser, referring to its agreement with the PML-N to empower local governments.

"But it did not happen," he lamented, calling for the matter to be included in the 27th Amendment.