August 24, 2008	Sunday	Sha'aban 21, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Aug 23: A Senate body on Saturday directed the law ministry to include proposed amendments in three articles of the Constitution in its constitutional package.

The Senate Standing Committee on Law, Justice, Human Rights and Parliamentary Affairs which met at the Parliament House under the chairmanship of Senator Dr Khalid Ranjha discussed private member’s bills recently introduced by Senator Kamran Murtaza seeking amendments in articles 268, 218 and 101 of the Constitution.

Mr Murtaza explaining the proposed amendments told Dawn that amendment in Article 268 seeks to do away with the curb on power of the Parliament to independently legislate on the laws contained in Schedule VI of the Constitution that require prior permission of the president.

He said the amendment proposed in Article 218 was meant to ensure that elections could not take place under the supervision of an acting chief election commissioner. He said though the law provides for the appointment of the acting CEC but, he added, this must be a temporary phase.

He said in the past acting CECs were appointed for long time by the governments to influence them in their favour.

The Senator said an amendment in Article 101 of the Constitution has been proposed to obviate the possibility of appointment of an “outsider” as governor of a province, particularly Baluchistan. He said under the amendment a governor must be a resident of the province and a registered voter for at least 10 years.

The committee observed that the amendments pertained to the Constitution and that the coalition government was working on introducing a constitutional package and had directed the law ministry to give its point of view on the subject. It directed the ministry to include these amendments, if found viable, in the package being prepared by the government.