Islamabad- During the joint meeting of the Senate and National Assembly committees held to consider the 27th Constitutional Amendment, the joint parliamentary committee approved the proposed draft, including the appointment of the heads of the armed forces.
The meeting is being held in Committee Room No. 5 of the Parliament House.
The meeting is attended by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Minister of State for Railways and Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani, Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Law Farooq H. Naek, Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan, and PPP’s Naveed Qamar.
Manzoor Kakar, Hidayatullah, Bashir Ahmed Virk, Ali Haider Gillani, Tahir Khalil Sindhu, Saira Afzal Tarar, and Senator Shahadat Awan also attended the meeting.
The meeting is being chaired by Senator Farooq H. Naek of the Pakistan People’s Party.
JUI-F had boycotted the meeting yesterday, while Ejaz-ul-Haq participated via video link.
During the meeting, consultation on the establishment of the Constitutional Court was completed.
The joint parliamentary committee is continuing consultation on Article 243 and Article 200, and the committee is expected to approve the draft of the 27th Constitutional Amendment today.
Senator Farooq H. Naek said that all clauses will be discussed today and expressed hope that the amendment will be finalized today.
He said that every political party has the right to give its opinion, and all parties’ views will be considered.
He added that the proposals from PML-N and MQM will also be reviewed, and the decision will be made according to the majority opinion.
All decisions will be presented in the House, and it is hoped that everything will be finalized by 5 PM.
Leaders from PTI, JUI-F, MWM, and PkMAP are not attending the meeting.
Opposition parties in both the National Assembly and the Senate had boycotted yesterday’s meeting.
Sources said that consultation has been completed on 12 clauses from Article 175-A to Article 175-L regarding the establishment of the Constitutional Court.
Sources further said that consultation has also been completed on increasing the number of advisers to the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers, as well as on the reconstitution of the Supreme Judicial Council and the Supreme Judicial Commission.
According to sources, consultations are ongoing on Article 243, Article 200, Article 248, and matters related to the transfer of judges.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar briefly attended the meeting; he came for ten minutes and then left.
During the meeting, the PML-N withdrew the clause related to the Prime Minister’s immunity.
The Federal Law Minister said that committee members had been informed of the Prime Minister’s message, after which the meeting was adjourned for a break.
Talking to journalists, he said that the committee had completed 85% of its work and expressed hope that it would be completed by the evening.
He added that the Prime Minister was in Azerbaijan yesterday and returned last night.
The Prime Minister, early in the morning, instructed that no clause related to immunity should be included.
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said that JUI members had participated in the committee meeting yesterday and had conveyed their party’s policy.
In his opinion, all parliamentary parties should exercise their right to vote.
Sources said that the committee had completed reviewing the clauses up to Article 209 and would review the remaining articles clause by clause after the break.
After the break, political parties’ proposals would also be considered.
After the break, the amendments to Article 200 were approved by the joint parliamentary committee.
According to the proposed amendment:
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The President will have the authority to transfer any High Court judge on the recommendation of the Judicial Commission.
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In case of transfer of judges, the Chief Justice of the respective High Court will be a member of the Judicial Commission.
According to the proposed amendment:
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The authority to transfer judges will rest with the Supreme Judicial Commission.
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The Chief Justice of a High Court cannot be transferred.
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No judge senior to the Chief Justice of another court will be transferred.
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The transferred judge will not be senior to the Chief Justice of the court to which he is transferred.
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If a judge refuses the transfer, he will be retired, and in case of retirement, he will be given pension and benefits for a specified period.
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If a Supreme Court or High Court judge refuses to become a judge of the Federal Constitutional Court, he will be considered retired.
According to the proposed amendment, in case of retirement, judges will be given pension and benefits for a fixed period.
The joint parliamentary committee has approved the proposed amendment to Article 243 regarding the appointment of the heads of the armed forces, while the government has sought time until tomorrow on ANP’s proposed amendment.
The MQM has sought time regarding the proposed amendment related to local body elections, while the government has decided to consult other stakeholders regarding Balochistan’s seats.
The government will respond to the proposed constitutional amendments of allied parties tomorrow, as it has requested time until tomorrow to review their suggestions.
The joint parliamentary committee has approved the draft of the 27th Constitutional Amendment, including 49 proposed amendments.
The Law Minister said that time had been sought to consider the amendments proposed by allied parties, and that the draft of the amendment will be presented in the Senate session tomorrow for approval.
