October 2, 2024
By Rehan Piracha
LAHORE
Contrary to rumours circulating on social media, the draft of the proposed Constitutional Package which the government shared with the Pakistan Bar Council does not include provisions for setting up military courts or altering fundamental rights, Amjad Shah, a member of the bar’s executive committee told Voicepk.net on October 2.
Last month, the ruling federal coalition unveiled the contours of a controversial Constitutional Package with more than 50 proposals. One of the key suggestions is to create a new Federal Constitutional Court alongside the Supreme Court. The Constitutional Court would handle petitions pertaining strictly to interpretations of constitutional clauses.
Following opposition from the lawyers’ community over the proposed constitutional amendments, Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer announced that the government would consider recommendations from the bar councils in the country before tabling the 26th Constitutional Amendments (Constitutional Package) in Parliament.
In its meetings, the Executive Committee of the Pakistan Bar Council considered and deliberated the draft of the proposed 26th Constitutional Amendments clause by clause, and changes/amendments were proposed, Amjad Shah, one of the committee’s members, told Voicepk.net on October 2. He said the recommendations for changes and amendments in the government’s draft of the Constitutional Package in the next meeting within a few days. The meeting of the PBC Executive Committee scheduled on October 2 was postponed due to the unavailability of the committee’s chairman because of the illness of his mother, Shah said.
“Contrary to rumour mills, there is nothing in the draft that we could say alters the salient fundamental rights of the people,” Shah explained, adding that the draft also did not include amendments to Article 199 relating to a high court’s jurisdiction to hear cases for the enforcement of any of the fundamental rights or provision for setting up military courts in the country. The closest thing to a reference to the military found in the draft is the amendment in the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution about permitting Parliament to grant taxation powers to cantonment boards and authorities in the country. “The amendment was opposed as the provinces were the relevant authorities to grant taxation powers to cantonment boards within their territories under the Eighteen Amendment,” Shah said.
Provision to allow PM to select first CJ of Constitutional Court rejected
The major portion of the draft was concerned with setting up a Federal Constitutional Court in the country. “We had reservations about the sunset clause in the draft Constitutional Package relating to the appointment of the first Chief Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court,” he said. According to the draft, Shah said, the sunset clause allows the President of Pakistan to appoint the first Chief Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court on the advice of the Prime Minister. Subsequently, the first judges of the Federal Constitutional Court would be appointed by the President in consultation with the first Chief Justice. “We recommended that the appointment of the first Chief Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court should not be left to the executive but should be through consultation of all stakeholders,” he explained, adding that this could be done through the Judicial Commission of Pakistan whose composition was broadened in the draft Constitutional Package to include four parliamentarians- two each from the treasury and the opposition.
He said the PBC agreed in principle to the amendments in the draft that broaden the composition of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan as well as empower the parliamentary committee that would approve judicial appointments in the country.
Shah said a meeting of representatives of all the bar councils would be called soon to finalise consolidated recommendations for the draft Constitutional Package. Earlier, Voicepk.net reached out to provincial bar councils and the Pakistan Bar Council to determine when their recommendations would be finalized. All provincial bar councils, except for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, have yet to conclude their recommendations on the constitutional package.