Senator Irfan Siddiqui of PMLN confirms that the much-debated and constitutional amendment bill will not be tabled in any of the houses of Parliament today. He confirmed that the plans to bring the proposed constitutional amendment have been postponed for an indefinite time period.
The package is a set of amendments to the Constitution, among which is one aiming to fix the tenure of the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) at three years. The legislation was expected to be presented in the parliament on Sunday. However, the government lacked the numbers required to get the amendments passed from both houses.
Irfan Siddiqui in his interview with Geo News said that both houses would be called “when we would be prepared from all angles to introduce a constitutional amendment”. He said the legislation would be tabled within a week or two.
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“It was our wish that this [legislation is passed] within two days […],” the senator said. The government required the support of JUI-F in the parliament to complete its number to get the legislation passed. However, JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman refused to side with the government.
Siddiqui asserted that Maulana Fazl was very flexible in the meeting with them. Describing Fazl’s response as “very positive”, the senator said, “[Fazl] did not object to anything to the extent of opinion.” He described concerns of Fazl as “very effective and rational”. Siddiqui quoted Fazl as saying he “did not have a principle difference”.
The opposition delegation of Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaf met Fazl-ur-Rehman at his residence in Islamabad. Whereas, a delegation of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) headed by Bilawal Zardari reached his residence to woo him, but failed.
Members of the ruling party also met Maulana Fazl ur Rehman several times, they were hopeful of his support, however, Fazl refused to back them.