26th Constitutional Amendment draft presented in Senate

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister of Law Azam Nazir Tarar presented the draft of the 26th constitutional amendment in the Senate on Sunday, ARY News reported.

The move came after a Federal Cabinet session chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved the draft of the much-debated amendments.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan has earlier said that the party will not vote in favor of the 26th constitutional amendment.

However, he said that the PTI will present its stance in the National Assembly and the Senate of Pakistan.

Barrister Gohar noted that PTI founder Imran Khan had instructed them to hold consultations given the seriousness of the legislation.

“Given that we have no time for further consultations, and how the bill was processed and how our parliamentarians were harassed, the PTI cannot vote for this bill,” he stated.

The draft proposed changes in several Articles of the Constitution of Pakistan as the federal government aims to bring judicial reforms.

The 26th Constitutional Amendment draft proposed making amendments in Article 28, Section 4 of Article 48, Article 111 and Article 175 related to the appointment of judges.

As per the proposed amendments, a committee will be constituted for the appointment of Supreme Court judges.

The committee will include two Members National Assembly (MNAs) and two Senators with the Treasury and the Opposition benches having equal representation.

The prime minister of Pakistan will propose a Senator and an MNA while members from the Opposition will be proposed by the Opposition Leaders.

As per the amendments to Article 175, a commission led by the Chief Justice of Pakistan will appoint judges to the apex court.

The head of the Constitutional Bench (Presiding Judge) will also be a member of the commission.

Meanwhile, the federal government has proposed legislation to change the process for the appointment of the CJP.

A Special Parliamentary Committee having eight MNAs and four Senators will pick a name from the three senior-most judges of the Supreme Court.

The committee will send the name to the Prime Minister of Pakistan who will send a summary to the President of Pakistan.

Additionally, the Federal government proposed adding Article 191 to the Constitution for the formation of a Constitutional Bench.

The Judicial Commission will appoint judges to the Bench which will comprise judges from all provinces on the basis of equal representation.

After the amendments, all the constitutional cases will be moved to the Constitutional Bench.

Further, amendments to Article 193 have been proposed, barring dual-nationals from becoming High Court judges.