Daily Times

Government coalition’s parliamentary leaders have directed the parliamentarians abroad to return home by October 15, sources said.

It is to be mentioned here that the political parties have been engaged in consultations and publicly debating over the 26th constitutional amendment under the consideration.

Several senators and scores of the National Assembly members have presently out of the country, sources said. “There are more than 10 lawmakers of the treasury out of the country,” sources shared.

“PML-N’s Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry and People’s Party’s veteran Syed Khursheed Shah have been among the MNAs currently out of Pakistan,” sources said. “Senator Rana Mehmood ul Hassan of People’s Party and BAP’s Dinesh Kumar, PML-Q’s Hussain Illahi and Senator Abdul Qadir have also been overseas on foreign visits”.

Chairman People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto has said that “If I was the law minister, I would have tried to pass the constitutional amendments before October 25”.

“The government, in view of the situation, definitely intending to pass the amendments as soon as possible,” he said.

“We want a consensus over constitutional amendments and the government also waiting for it,” he said.

“It has yet to be decided finally, who will appoint the head judge of the constitutional court,” he added.

Meanwhile, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari stated that there is no deadline for constitutional amendments from their side, although the government may face one.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, he stressed that the issue of a timeline for passing the proposed constitutional amendments is not a concern for the PPP. “However, the government may have a deadline,” he noted.

Bilawal highlighted that the government has the option to seek votes based on conscience, yet efforts for consensus are ongoing. “The PPP aims to work collaboratively with all political parties,” he said, expressing a desire to include various factions, including Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F), in the discussions.

Regarding the status of constitutional amendments, he mentioned that the JUI-F has not yet provided a draft for the proposed changes. “Once the draft arrives, we will review it and engage in dialogue with JUI-F to determine the way forward,” he stated.

The PPP chairman also commented on recent judicial developments, referencing an order that was issued on a holiday without the Chief Justice’s prior knowledge. He reaffirmed the PPP’s commitment to judicial reforms and equal rights for provinces.

Bilawal indicated that there was initial agreement on constitutional courts and judicial reforms from Rehman of JUI-F. However, he noted that the government’s attempts to amend Articles 8 and 51 of the Constitution were met with resistance from both the PPP and JUI-F. When asked about PTI, he remarked that Imran Khan and his party were given multiple opportunities on various issues but exhibited a lack of seriousness.

Separately, a petition has been filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to make the draft of proposed constitutional amendments public. As per details, the petitioner, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, argued that public opinion should be sought on the current amendments, just like in the case of the 18th Amendment.