Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan has claimed that the ruling coalition is attempting to introduce amendments to the Constitution to keep him behind bars.
About the constitutional package which was set to be introduced in Parliament on Monday, Khan said “New amendments would destroy the country’s future. They have decided to destroy the judiciary.”
The government and opposition in parliament are in a heated debate over a proposed constitutional amendment bill.
This bill includes changes that would allegedly extend the tenure of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), Qazi Faez Isa, who is set to retire in October, and raise the retirement age for judges.
To pass this constitutional amendment, the government needs a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament. But the government don’t have the support of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
As a result, the government has decided to postpone presenting the constitutional amendment indefinitely.
Read more: JUI-F urges government to avoid rushing constitutional amendment
What are the new amendments introduced in Constitutional Package?
The draft of the proposed 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill has been unveiled. Here are the main points:
Article 78: A federal constitutional court is proposed to be established through this amendment.
- The chief justice of the Federal Constitutional Court will be appointed on the recommendation of an eight-member National Assembly committee.
- The Supreme Court’s power to take suo motu notice has been proposed to be transferred to the Federal Constitutional Court.
- The authority to hear the presidential reference will also be transferred from the Supreme Court to the constitutional court.
- The term for the chief justices will be limited to three years.
- Judges of the Constitutional Court will retire at the age of 68.
Article 63A: A member’s vote will be counted even if they vote against the direction of their parliamentary party.
