Despite Fazl's rejection, Asif says hope still alive for JUI-F supporting constitutional amendment

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif claimed on Wednesday that hopes are still alive for the government to gain support from opposition party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl for the proposed constitutional amendments while calling its chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman "a shrewd politician".

“Maulana Fazl is a shrewd politician,” said Asif while speaking on Geo News programme Capital Talk, and hoped that the ruling alliance would find a way out.

He was referring to proposed constitutional changes — which allegedly included the potential extension in the tenure of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and judges’ retirement age — that have become a challenge for the coalition government to pass in parliament as it lacked a two-thirds majority.

Elaborating on the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) tireless efforts on the legislation, the defence czar said that the government allies “are on the same page” and “meetings are being held with [the Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman] Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on a daily basis”.

The defence minister said that the coalition government was seeking to evolve broader consensus on the proposed constitutional amendments.

Commenting on the latest developments, “Path of us and Maulana Fazl is not different. We went through a difficult time together and the cleric stood firmly,” said Asif while recalling the former multi-party coalition — Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) — which successfully ousted then premier Imran Khan from office via a no-trust motion in 2022.

“Fazl is a shrewd politician [...] we would definitely find a resolution,” said Asif expressing hope that the government will address the JUI-F chief's concerns in the coming days.

Terming the constitutional changes part of the “Charter of Democracy” between the PML-N and the PPP, Asif claimed that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan had also signed the pact in 2006 which also includes the establishment of a constitutional court.

Advocating the constitutional court to reduce the pendency of cases, the ruling PML-N leader said that burden on the country’s courts is continuously increasing with nearly 2.7 million pending cases.

The ruling coalition left no stone unturned to woo the ‘fate-decider’ Fazl, with leaderships of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) holding a flurry of meetings with the cleric, but to no avail.

The former PDM head earlier in the day completely rejected the draft of the "controversial" constitutional package, aimed at making changes to Pakistan’s judicial and parliamentary systems.

Slamming the amendments after meeting the major opposition party — PTI — leadership at a luncheon today, the cleric said that “it would have been the biggest breach of nation's trust” if they accept those changes.

Two days ago, the government had confirmed that the amendments were "postponed indefinitely" after the JUI-F supremo didn't concede to the government's strenuous efforts to support the new legislation amid strong opposition from the Imran-founded party which termed it an “individual-specific legislation”.

To pass the constitutional amendments, the government is short of 13 votes in the National Assembly and nine in the Senate.