PESHAWAR: Terming the newly enacted law — titled “The Constitution (26th Amendment) Act, 2024” — “unconstitutional”, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Monday warned that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Pakistan (PTI) would take to the streets if the most senior judge is not appointed as the Chief Justice of Pakistan.
After the 26th amendment, the selection of the chief justice will no longer be based solely on seniority, and instead, the choice will be made among the three most senior judges of the top court.
A 12-member parliamentary committee will decide on the chief justice’s nomination with a two-thirds majority. The committee will then forward the selected name to the prime minister, who will send the nomination to the president for final approval.
Blasting the coalition government for passing the “contentious” amendment, CM Gandapur termed the fresh legislation an attack on the “independence” of judiciary, saying that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will revoke the newly enacted legislation whenever it returned to power in the Centre.
Speaking on the floor of the KP assembly, the PTI's firebrand chief minister took a dig at the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led government, saying: “A government who does not have a legal mandate attacked the judiciary.”
The Imran Khan-founded party calls the incumbent government “unconstitutional” and “Form-47 government” — a reference to the alleged manipulation in the results of February 8 general elections.
The PTI also issued a white paper on alleged rigging in the February 8 general elections, demanding the formation of the judicial commission to probe the “snatching of the 180 seats”.
Earlier today, President Asif Ali Zardari signed the “26th Amendment Bill” into law on the advice of PM Shehbaz following the approval of the said legislation by the parliament.
In the lower house of parliament, the government clinched 225 votes of the required 224 with the crucial support of a handful of independent MNAs, including those backed by the PTI.
The KP chief minister was of the view that the “unconstitutional amendment” was aimed at facilitating the elite class.
“Independent Judiciary has been subjugated.”
The chief minister announced that the “contentious” constitutional amendment would be revoked whenever PTI would come into power. He further said that thy would make amendments to the Constitution that would benefit the people.
Strongly criticising the PT-backed dissident lawmakers, CM Gandapur said that they should have resigned instead of casting votes in favour of the “unconstitutional amendment”.
“The nation will make them accountable who changed their loyalties,” threatened the firebrand leader.
Zahoor Qureshi, Aurangzeb Khichi, Usman Ali, and Mubarak Zeb were the PTI-backed independent MNAs who voted in the tweak’s favour.
Difficult time exposed the traitors, cowards and conscience sellers, he added.
“We and the nation will also seek answer from the traitors.”
Moving on to, incarcerated PTI founder, the CM said that their leader was in jail despite he did not do anything wrong. He was kept in isolation in the Rawalpindi’s Adyala Jail.
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