Hafiz Naeem calls 26th Constitutional Amend a 'dark chapter'

LAHORE: The Jamaat-e-Islami has dubbed the 26th Constitutional Amendment passed by the Parliament as addition to the ‘dark chapter’ of Pakistan’s democracy and judiciary.

JI chief Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman on Monday said that the Chief Justice of Pakistan was earlier appointed on merit, now the parliament will appoint the top office of the judiciary.

“Regretfully to say, the grandson of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto yesterday damaged the spirit of the constitution,” Hafiz Naeem said in his party’s comment over the recently passed constitutional legislation.

He further commented that more than half of the parliament members didn’t win the election.

Meanwhile, former federal minister Fawad Chaudhry has said that the 26th Constitutional Amendment won’t benefit the government as it was intending to.

“It is their misunderstanding that they will control the judiciary,” Chaudhry, a former minister in PTI government said.

He praised the policy of the JUI and the PTI adding that a bad draft of the constitutional amendment has been passed after becoming lesser damaging.

The federal government managed to secure two-third majority for the passage of the 26th constitutional amendment in the National Assembly (NA) in the wee hours of Monday, shortly after it sailed through Senate.

The constitutional amendment envisages introduction of reforms to the appointment process and tenure of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and establishment of constitutional benches at the Supreme Court, with equal representation from all provinces.

Acting on the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday signed 26th constitutional amendment bill into law after its passage by both houses of the parliament.

Following President Zardari’s signature on the bill, the gazette notification of the constitutional amendment has been issued promptly thus the amendment has become a part of the 1973’s constitution of Pakistan.