'Proposed 18th Amendment Bill will bring an end to military adventurism'

Federal Minister for Law Dr Babar Awan has said the proposed 18th Constitutional Amendment Bill, which is near finalisation, would bring an end to military adventurism, restricting courts from indemnifying military coups in future. He was speaking at the oath taking ceremony of newly elected body of Press Association of Supreme Court, here on Friday.
"Drastic changes have been proposed in Article 6 of the Constitution to make it impossible for the Supreme Court or the High Courts to indemnifying military coups by making such validations a cognisable offence under relevant penal laws," the minister said.
Any kind of ultra-constitutional steps will be treated as cognisable offence and violators will have to stand for trials under the proposed High Treason Act, he added. It has been reported that Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms (PCCR) is going to complete its task by March 12-13 and it will be announced by the President in his address to a joint sitting of Parliament on March 16.
The 18th amendment will also repeal some of the amendments incorporated in the constitution during General Musharraf's period through the 17th amendment including vesting key powers in the hands of the president to appoint services chiefs and dismissing the national assembly under Article 58(2b) of the Constitution.
The minister said that 26-member PCCR headed by Senator Raza Rabbani has concluded its 61st session on Friday and has almost completed 95 percent of the job while rest of the five percent was expected to be done in two weeks time. The recommendations represented by 27 different parties, also proposed to make the High Treason Punishment Act of 1973 effective by using against those guilty of sabotaging or suspending the constitution, the explained.
The 18th amendment has also proposed to revive Islamabad High Court (IHC), establishment of IHC was declared unconstitutional by the apex court in its July 31, 2009 judgement. Awan said that the committee had also recommended that local bodies' elections should be conducted by the Election Commission of Pakistan.
Earlier, on March 4, the PCCR had rejected the proposal to return powers of holding local bodies elections to the provincial election authority. The committee had also rejected the proposal of setting up a special bench at the Supreme Court to deal with constitutional issues.
The minister brushed aside the theories of any confrontation among state institutions and said the government did not backed out from national policy even by an inch during last two years. He said government's policies ensure independence of judiciary, media and empowerment of parliament and the forthcoming elections would be a litmus test for its performance.