KARACHI: Awaam Pakistan convener and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Monday filed a petition before the Sindh High Court (SHC), challenging the 26th Constitutional Amendment.

He submitted in the petition that the amendment was enacted through “grossly defective legislative process” and asked the court to strike it down for being “violative of the salient features of the Constitution”, including independence of the judiciary, federalism and the trichotomy of powers.

He made the cabinet and law divisions, Sindh chief secretary, provincial law secretary, speaker of the National Assembly, chairman of the Senate, Election Commission of Pakistan, chief election commissioner and members as well as two senators of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M)respondents in the petition.

The petitioner contended that the enactment in question was passed in an opaque, mala fide and procedurally flawed manner, disregarding constitutional requirements for transparency, inclusivity and proper representation of all the provinces.

Asks high court to strike down the constitutional amendment as it was enacted through ‘grossly defective legislative process’

He also maintained that key constitutional breaches, including halving of KP representation in the Senate during deliberations, the ECP’s failure to implement binding court orders and instances of coercion and undue influence on parliamentary votes and all of which undermined the legitimacy of the act.

Petitioner’s counsel Abdul Moiz Jaferii submitted in the petition that the actions of the ECP, Senate chairman and NA speaker were not only unlawful, but also intentionally designed to suppress representation, distort the voting process and ensure the passage of the impugned amendment by a precarious majority.

He also stated that the petition brought to light the violation of independence of the judiciary and trichotomy of powers as core constitutional principles particularly in relation to the subsequent nomination and appointment of a new chief justice of Pakistan under the framework of the act.

The counsel further maintained that when the amendment in question was passed, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) did not have complete representation in the upper house of the parliament since the Senate elections for KP were postponed by the ECP, citing the speaker’s refusal to administer oaths to the reserved seat members.

He contended that despite the Supreme Court’s order passed on July 12 and detailed reasons issued on Sept 23, the ECP had failed to implement the directives or hold elections and such actions were driven by malice and thus undermining the deliberative nature of parliamentary proceedings.

The chairman of the Senate acted with malice by allowing proceedings to continue despite that clear imbalance, he added.

The lawyer argued that the ECP’s failure to allocate reserved seats in the assembly further deprived a political party of representation during the act’s passage.

He also submitted that two senators from the BNP-M — Muhammad Qasim Roonjho and Naseema Ehsan — were “forced to vote in favour of the amendment through threats and abductions” as it was evident by the public statements made by those Senators.

He stated that such acts demanded an independent judicial inquiry to determine the validity of the law since votes cast under coercion were deemed invalid.

Two other petitions were also pending disposal before the SHC and the court had directed the federal law officer and respondents to file comments on the next hearing to be fixed in the next month.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2024