Daily Times

Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari have held discussions during which the two leaders reached an agreement on constitutional amendments.

Bilawal called on Nawaz Sharif at the Punjab House, where the former Prime Minister welcomed the PPP leader.

The two leaders also exchanged views on the country’s political situation.

The discussion primarily focused on judicial reforms and constitutional amendments.

They decided to present these amendments in Parliament following further consultation, with the timeline for this process to be determined in consultation with other political parties.

Maryam Aurangzeb, Rana Sanaullah, Pervez Rashid, Irfan Siddiqui, and Ahsan Iqbal attended of the meeting from the PML-N.

Meanwhile, the PPP delegation included Yousaf Raza Gillani, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Khursheed Shah, Murtaza Wahab, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Naveed Qamar, and Palwasha Khan.

However, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) has denied reaching a breakthrough on constitutional amendments with the federal government.

As per detail, the JUI-F spokesperson Aslam Ghauri said that it’s the incumbent government’s headache to pass the constitutional amendments before October 25, not JUI-F’s.

The spokesperson revealed that 90% of the proposed amendments draft is ready and will be shared with PTI and PPP. However, he clarified that they don’t want a constitutional court that is above the Supreme Court. He emphasized that their principal stance is that constitutional amendments should be acceptable to all.

He proposed that if there is no agreement on a constitutional court, a separate bench should be established in the Supreme Court, comprising 4-5 judges, under the Chief Justice. He stressed that constitutional amendments are for the 250 million people of Pakistan, not for an individual or government.

The JUI-F leader also mentioned that the draft provided to them by the People’s Party was different, which caused concerns for Bilawal.

Earlier, report circulated that the government achieved breakthrough in talks with JUI’s Maulana Fazlur Rehman over the proposed 26th constitutional amendment.

“The constitutional amendment will be tabled in the parliament after the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) session scheduled on October 15 and 16 in Islamabad,” sources said.