• President summons NA, Senate sessions today
• BAP, NP submit joint draft seeking better representation of Balochistan in the assemblies

ISLAMABAD: A special committee reviewing proposed constitutional amendments gave more time to PTI on its request to share its own draft, after the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and National Party submitted a joint draft of proposed legislation to the parliamentary panel on Wednesday.

The PTI is likely to come up with its own draft of constitutional amendments today (Thursday), chairman of the parliamentary committee Syed Khursheed Shah said after its meeting.

President Asif Ali Zardari has summoned both houses of parliament to meet today (Thursday), as the government appears to be in a rush to pass a set of proposed constitutional tweaks mainly focused on “judicial reforms”.

However, an informed source said, draft amendments were unlikely to be tabled in parliament on day one of the sitting. The source sounded confident that the same would sail through parliament next week.

PTI and JUI-F lawmakers did not attend the parliamentary committee meeting, which was chaired by PPP leader Syed Khursheed Shah.

A participant in the meeting disclosed to Dawn that the BAP and NP submitted a joint draft of legislation to the committee mainly seeking to increase the number of provincial and National Assembly seats of Balochistan.

Sources said JUI-F senator Kamran Murtaza who had accompanied party chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman during his meeting with PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in Karachi was currently in Lahore, where the leadership of both parties were scheduled to meet the PML-N supremo.

After the committee meeting, Mr Shah said recommendations in different drafts on constitutional amendments were merged during the review process.

He said PTI chief whip Amir Dogar approached him to seek more time, explaining that his party was holding a meeting on the proposed constitutional amendments.

He said the PTI was likely to come up with its own draft of constitutional amendments on Thursday.

A member of the committee, however, believed that the PTI would try to buy further time. Answering a question, he confirmed that the government wanted to get the package of controversial constitutional amendments passed from both houses of parliament before Oct 25 (the retirement date of Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa) but insisted that the proposed amendments were not person-specific.

Meanwhile, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja said there were no issues with the JUI-F’s draft for the constitutional package, adding that Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s efforts might ensure that the Constitution was “not too badly damaged”.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2024