Govt to table bill seeking fixed term for CJP today

The government is set to introduce the highly anticipated “Constitutional Package” in parliament today (Saturday), which aims, among other things, to fix the tenure of the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) for three years.

Bills that have been much discussed and are due to be introduced today would give the nation’s top judge a fixed term.

The government has summoned the Senate and NA this weekend; MPs indicate an amendment could be tabled in the upper chamber first.

The government’s victory is attributed to the backing of Fazl, since the coalition claims to have completed its homework.

Approximately 224 votes out of the 336 members of the lower house are needed for the constitutional change to succeed, and it is still unclear if the ruling coalition has the necessary numbers to do this.

In order to guarantee their attendance in both chambers for the legislation’s approval, parties in the ruling coalition, including the PML-N, PPP, MQM, and others, have instructed their members to remain in the capital over the weekend.

PPP MNA Nafisa Shah intended to travel to her hometown to celebrate her father’s birthday, former Sindh CM Qaim Ali Shah, on Friday, but she was not permitted to leave the federal capital till the end of the session, according to a PPP source, demonstrating their sincerity.

The bill to make the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) a tenured office would be tabled today (Saturday), according to Barrister Aqeel Malik, the PM’s legal affairs advisor.

“It’s going to be introduced on Saturday, and I believe the Senate will table it first, followed by the National Assembly,” he continued.

Based on his latest explanation, it appears that the CJP was not in favour of a “person-specific” amendment to the legislation or a term extension.

A long-time ally of the Sharifs, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the leader of the JUI-F, has also being courted by the government. In the event that he does endorse the “Constitutional Package,” the administration will hold a dominant majority in the Senate but will still lack four or five votes in the National Assembly.

The National Assembly Secretariat official stated that even if the administration didn’t seem to have the necessary number of votes, previous history suggested that the revisions may be approved through some shady maneuvers.

He gave the election of Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, the current Senate Chairman, as an example. It appears that the ruling alliance did not have the necessary number of senators to support it, yet Gilani still won.