Senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Senator Irfan Siddiqui said on Monday that the ‘constitutional package’ was not going to be tabled in either houses of parliament today.
Sessions of both houses today were to be prorogued and would next be called when “we would be prepared from all angles to introduce a constitutional amendment,” he said.
Moreover, the Senate session also convened today and was later prorogued, Radio Pakistan reported.
‘Constitutional Package’ not tabled in federal cabinet yet
Meanwhile, the National Assembly session, scheduled for 12:30pm, began after a delay today with Speaker Ayaz Sadiq in the chair.
Addressing the floor of the Parliament, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said that the ‘Constitutional Package’ was not going to be tabled in either house of the Parliament today.
“Proposed amendments have not yet been presented before the federal cabinet as a draft nor in the Cabinet Committee for Disposal of Legislative Cases,” the law minister said.
He further said that the process of talks has been started with the Parliamentary Parties in the Senate and NA on the constitutional package.
He said it will be our effort to evolve consensus on the document.
“The proposed package envisages formation of the judicial commission as per the spirit of the 18th Amendment and it is proposed to empower the judicial commission to evaluate the performance of the judges of the high court,” he told NA.
The constitutional amendment package about increasing the retirement age of superior courts’ judges – a move vehemently opposed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) – could not be introduced in Saturday’s sitting of the NA and was to be tabled on Sunday.
However, the government failed to bring the related bill and kept rescheduling the respective sessions of the two houses of parliament— before finally deciding to convene the NA and Senate meetings today (Monday).
Talking to reporters, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said the sittings of the two houses were adjourned due to lack of numerical strength of two third majority for passage of the constitutional amendment.
He said that so far, Maulana Fazlur Rehman has not assured his support for the constitutional amendment, adding that efforts will be made to woo his party’s support. “Let’s see tomorrow as what will come out of the ongoing deliberations,” the minister said.
The government needs a two-thirds majority both in the NA and the Senate for the passage of the “package”.
The leaders from the ruling side claimed that they had enough numbers to get the constitutional amendment sailed through the parliament.
On the other hand, the PTI leaders claimed that they were in a position to defeat the government’s judicial package in the parliament.
‘Package’: The Night of the Parliamentarians
In the NA, the ruling coalition needs 224 votes to pass the constitutional amendment, whereas, in the Senate, the number stands at 64.
In the NA, the treasury benches have 211 members against the opposition’s 101 lawmakers meaning that the government needs 13 more votes to pass the constitutional amendment package.