Says govt wants to build consensus on the matter; Urges opposition parties to come up with positive recommendations
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar told the National Assembly on Monday that a ‘Constitutional Package’ has not been presented before the federal cabinet yet.
The package is a set of amendments to the Constitution, one of which will aim to fix the tenure of the chief justice of Pakistan for three years.
The legislation was previously expected to be introduced in the National Assembly and the Senate Monday, after the government failed to table it over the weekend as previously scheduled despite hectic efforts to garner the required support.
Speaking on the floor of the lower house, Tarar said the proposed amendments had “not yet been presented before the federal cabinet as a draft nor in the CCLC (Cabinet Committee for Disposal of Legislative Cases)”.
As per procedure, a constitutional amendment first needs to be cleared by the federal cabinet.
The PTI, which has complained that no draft of the legislation was presented in the three-hour-long meeting, has made “all possible efforts” to stop the government from introducing the package.
Responding to the points raised by PTI’s Asad Qaiser in NA, Tarar said the process of talks has been started with the parliamentary parties in both houses on the constitutional package.
Stating that the government would seek to build consensus on the matter, the minister asked the opposition parties to come up with positive recommendations instead of undue criticisms, assuring them that those would be accommodated.
Detailing the process to pass a constitutional amendment, Tarar said it is to befirst approved by the federal cabinet, after which the CCLC — which he said comprised of all coalition partners — reviewed the legislation thoroughly.
After the federal cabinet greenlights it, it was then the government’s prerogative whether to introduce the bill in the NA or the Senate, Tarar added.
He said the proposed package envisaged the formation of the judicial commission as per the spirit of the 18th Amendment and it was proposed to empower the commission to evaluate the performance of high court judges.
“We relinquish our entire powers in their hands due to our differences and timings that ‘today it suits me, now it suits them’,” Tarar said.
