‘Constitutional Package’ expected to finally land in NA, Senate today
After hectic efforts from the ruling coalition over the weekend to garner the required support for a controversial ‘Constitutional Package’, the legislation is expected to be introduced in the sessions of the National Assembly and the Senate today.
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.
Day-long ambiguity surrounding the legislation finally ended after 11pm last night, as both houses of the parliament briefly convened following multiple postponements, only to be adjourned until today.
While both the Senate and the NA were scheduled to convene at 12:30pm today, neither of the sessions have begun yet. As per procedure, the constitutional amendment first needs to be cleared by the federal cabinet, which has also not convened yet.
The proposed legislation, which had been kept out of the public eye, much to the chagrin of the opposition as well as government allies, was eventually discussed at the special parliamentary committee’s meeting in a bid to take the opposition on board.
The PTI, which has complained that no draft of the legislation was presented in the three-hour-long meeting, has made “all possible efforts” to stop the government from introducing the package.
The residence of Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the chief of his faction of the Jamita Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F), saw the most political activity on Sunday — even eclipsing the level of politicking going on at parliament — as both the government and the opposition attempted to win his support.
After convening a JUI-F parliamentary party meeting, the politically astute Fazl met with a government team comprising Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi.
He was then approached by the opposition delegation led by PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan around 6pm, where they even offered evening prayers led by the JUI-F chief.
Speaking to Geo News today, PML-N Senator Irfan Siddiqui described Fazl as “very flexible” in the discussions held yesterday as the government tried to woo the senior politician’s support.
The PML-N senator termed Fazl’s reasons behind his concerns as “very effective and rational”. Siddiqui quoted Fazl as saying he “did not have a principle difference” on some of the proposed legislation but stressed the need for time to review the package.
“It was our wish that this [legislation is passed] within two days […],” the senator said.
According to a Dawn analysis, if the government manages to secure Fazl’s support, it would barely just get the required 64 votes in the Senate, given that the Awami National Party also votes in favour.
However, the situation in the NA would likely still be tricky as even with the JUI-F’s potential support, it would fall short of three votes.
Numbers game
The emphasis of the government seems to be on securing the magic number required for the passage of the amendment — 224 in the case of the National Assembly and 64 in the Senate.
However, despite tall claims that it had “completed its homework”, the government’s reluctance to table the amendment on Sunday night belied its earlier claims of having the numbers to push the amendment through both houses.
Everything seems to be riding on the support of Fazl — sources said the late-night decision to put off the sessions of both houses of parliament was taken on his insistence — as he holds the key to bringing the government close to its goal as far as the Senate is concerned.
With his five seats in the Senate, the Maulana is in a position to tip the scales in the favour of the government. Currently, the ruling coalition’s parties have a total of 52 confirmed votes — PPP’s 24, PML-N’s 19, Balochistan Awami Party’s (BAP) four, Mutahhida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) three, and one each from the PML-Q and National Party.
If the Awami National Party (ANP) backs the government with its three votes, and if the four independent senators also side with the treasury, this would mean a total of 64 votes, which is the required threshold, in an incomplete house of 85.
However, things are not so clear in the National Assembly: here coalition parties have a total of 213 seats (excluding 20 disputed reserved seats), while the opposition has 99 in an incomplete house of 312. The JUI-F has eight seats in the lower house, and even if they were all to vote for the government, it would still fall three short of the required number.
Offers on the table for JUI-F
Although there was no official word on what was discussed behind closed doors, insiders told Dawn that PTI had supposedly offered Fazl’s son Asad Mehmood a seat in the National Assembly, encouraging him to join what the party terms its “popular movement for restoration of true democracy in country”.
JUI-F sources indicated that two of Maulana’s demands included governorship in KP and a slot in parliament for his son Asad, apart from some space in the federal cabinet.
The PPP has reportedly offered to have Asad elected as a senator from Sindh.
Sources close to Balochistan lawmakers confided that interior minister Naqvi has offered the JUI-F chief the slot of Balochistan chief minister in return for his support, as well as the possibility that Asad Mehmood could become an MPA from that province.