Parliamentary body mulls over 26th constitutional amendment draft

ISLAMABAD: Special parliamentary committee’s session begins on Thursday to finalize draft of the proposed 26th amendment in the constitution, ARY News reported.

The meeting chaired by People’s Party’s Khurshid Shah will consider over proposed drafts presented by the political parties for the proposed constitutional amendment.

“Today, is the day of big and positive news,” Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Irfan Siddiqui earlier said. “Hopefully all drafts will be merged into one,” Siddiqui said.

“What you say, a consensus will develop today. If all three drafts being merged into one” a scribe questioned Khurshid Shah.

“This session has been fixed today for this business. We will see when the draft comes to me,” Shah replied.

PML-N, PPP and JUI-F yesterday agreed on the proposed constitutional amendments pertaining to judicial reforms after hours-long meeting at the Jati Umra in Lahore.

The bigwigs of PML-N, PPP, and JUI-F held a detailed discussion on the proposed 26th constitutional amendment.

The meeting held at the Jati Umra, the Sharif brothers’ residence in Lahore, attended by President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, PML-N President Nawaz Sharif, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and others.

“There has been a consensus among the three parties on judicial reforms, Ishaq Dar said and added that after reforms, the judicial system will provide speedy justice.

Fazlur Rehman said that the consensus has been reached to the extent of judicial reforms. “Efforts being made to agree on other points as well” he added.

During the meeting, three different drafts of the constitutional amendments—each presented by three parties. PPP’s Khursheed Shah, who heads the parliament’s special committee on the constitutional amendment, also presented the recommendations.

The federal government is expected to table the constitutional amendment in the National Assembly on Thursday (today) for which the lower house session has already been called.