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Pakistan passes constitutional amendments aimed at courts

Under the new judicial reforms, the chief justice of Pakistan will now be selected by a parliamentary committee and have a fixed term of three years

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People stand outside the Parliament house during a budget session in Islamabad on June 26, 2024. – AFP file

By AFP

Published: Mon 21 Oct 2024, 8:46 AM

Pakistan's government on Monday narrowly passed a package of constitutional amendments it said would stop the country's courts from issuing rulings that "interfere in parliament".

Under the judicial reforms passed during a late night session of parliament, the chief justice of Pakistan will now be selected by a parliamentary committee and have a fixed term of three years.

A new constitutional bench will be also formed.

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"The goal of the amendments is to block the judicial verdicts that interfere in parliament," Defence Minister Asif Khawaja said on Saturday as the government courted support from smaller religious groups.

"Everybody agrees that we will not compromise on the supremacy of the parliament."

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party scraped together a two-thirds majority with the backing of Pakistan People's Party, and a religious party considered an ally of Khan.

The government clinched 225 votes of the required 224 with the crucial support of a handful of rebel MPs from Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, state media broadcasting the session showed.

PTI, the largest bloc in parliament, had refused to back the package despite offers to water down the amendments and settle a consensus deal, analysts said.

"These amendments are akin to suffocating a free judiciary. They do not represent the people of Pakistan," said PTI's Omar Ayub Khan, the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, during the session.

"A government formed through rigging cannot amend the constitution."

The amendments come just days before the chief justice of the Supreme Court, Qazi Faez Isa, is due to retire.

Under the previous law, he would have been automatically replaced by the most senior judge behind him -- currently, Mansoor Ali Shah, who has consistently issued verdicts deemed favourable to Khan and his party.

Analyst Bilal Gilani, who heads Pakistan's leading polling agency, said the amendments have some "wins" - including bringing balance to the activism of the judiciary.

"A more sinister side of this amendment creates a judiciary that is more pliant with the concerns of the government," he added.

In July, the Supreme Court ruled that the Election Commission of Pakistan was wrong to have sidelined Khan's party in the election campaign by forcing its MPs to stand as independents over a technical violation.

It also awarded Khan's party a handful of non-elected seats reserved for women and religious minorities, which would give Khan's party a majority in parliament.

Earlier this year, six Pakistan high court judges accused the nation's intelligence agency of intimidating and coercing them over "politically consequential" cases.

AFP

Published: Mon 21 Oct 2024, 8:46 AM

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