PM, Bilawal hold weekend meeting amid talk of 27th Amendment

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal-Bhutto Zardari Sunday held a meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and discussed the strategy after the successful passage of the 26th Constitutional Amendment.

Pledging to work alongside the ruling PMLN to strengthen democracy and parliament, the PPP chief asserted that the 26th Amendment would serve as an effective legislation, blocking the path of undemocratic forces.

Bilawal-led PPP delegation consisted of former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Punjab Governor Sardar Saleem Haider, Mayor Karachi Murtaza Wahab and Member National Assembly (MNA) Naveed Qamar, which met PM Shehbaz Sharif. The PMLN side was represented by Federal Minister Azam Nazir Tarar and Prime Minister’s Adviser Rana Sanaullah Khan. Both the sides congratulated each other over the passage of the 26th Constitutional Amendment.

The PM termed the PPP an important ally of the government. Sources said the meeting discussed the future strategy concerning the next constitutional move, the 27th Amendment meant for empowering provinces and ensuring their rights. The meeting decided to take other allies and like-minded parties, including the JUIF and MQM Pakistan, into the present setup.

The premier expressed gratitude to the PPP for supporting the PMLN-led coalition government's efforts towards economic stability, doubling down on the commitment to serving the nation.

The coalition government's initiatives led to significant disinflation, with other economic indicators also showing positive signs, he noted. The PPP delegation lauded the efforts made by the PMLN government for boosting the country's economy.

Sources privy to the developments told Geo News that the ruling parties agreed on introducing the 27th Constitutional Amendment aimed at addressing the concerns raised by the provinces. Meanwhile, Bilawal, during his Lahore visit, also attended an event in connection with breast cancer awareness at the Polo Club on Sunday.

According to a press release, the PPP chairman said the event played a crucial role in raising breast cancer awareness across the country. He remarked that it was inspiring to see players from around the globe come together in support of such a noble cause, bringing attention and solidarity to an important health issue.

Earlier, he told the media he had met the prime minister, adding that his visit to Lahore was specifically to support the polo event aimed at cancer awareness. Addressing a question about the constitutional amendment, he said his focus would solely remain on the event's mission to spread awareness. He said seeing women participate in polo filled him with pride, as it not only breaks traditional barriers but also encourages wider involvement of women in sports, symbolizing progress and inclusivity in both health and athletic arenas.

The PPP chief applauded the organisers and participants for their dedication, noting that the event’s impact goes beyond sports by fostering community spirit and shared responsibility toward health issues.

Meanwhile, speaking in Geo News programme ‘Naya Pakistan’, Adviser to PM on Political and Public Affairs Rana Sanaullah initially denied that any talks were held between Bilawal Bhutto and PM Shehbaz Sharif. He said he was present in the meeting and no such talks were held specifically about the 27th Amendment.

However, he admitted that further amendments to the Constitution would continue to address the issues which could not be accommodated in the 26th Amendment. He said the coalition government would aim to incorporate legislation requested by various parties in the upcoming constitutional amendment, adding that both sides had yet to reach a consensus on certain points discussed in Sunday’s meeting.

He specifically pointed to the MQMP's long-standing demand for legislation to amend Article 140A to empower local government, including a request to allocate funds to local government (LG) institutions similar to the financing provided to provincial administrations.

The adviser added that both parties had only agreed to the continuation of the Special Parliamentary Committee led by PPP leader Khursheed Shah to deliberate on the Constitution-related matters.

To a question related to flaws in the 26th Amendment, the PM's aide rubbished the claims and said it was a "perfect" judiciary-centric legislation. He also clarified that the PMLN government would not indulge in any unilateral initiative and would not bring any constitutional amendment to parliament without evolving a consensus.

Meanwhile, according to the authorities privy to the developments, extraordinary activities on the judicial and parliamentary fronts would begin on Monday (today), which would lead to the consultation process at the highest level to bring about the 27th Amendment to the Constitution. Legislation would be made to make structural changes to the Supreme Court Practices and Procedures Act to bring it in line with the 26th Amendment to the Constitution.

The government has decided, said the sources, that the judicial commission would be completed in the first week of November, which would pave the way for the constitution of the constitutional bench.

Sources claimed in talk with The News that the 26th Constitutional Amendment did not contain any point that indicated any contradiction in the important document. Sources said if Chief Justice Yahya Afridi would have refused to accept his nomination by the parliamentary committee, a serious crisis could have arisen for the government. It would have badly damaged the motivation behind the amendment, added the sources.

Parliamentary sources told The News that National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq would ask the Leader of the House and Leader of the Opposition in parliament to nominate one member each to join the judicial commission. The National Assembly and the Senate would have a total of four members: two from the National Assembly and two from the Senate. Along with receiving these nominations, the speaker would take one nomination from women and non-Muslims. It is believed that he would prefer a female member to join the commission, who would be qualified to become a member of the upper house of parliament.

A 13-member judicial commission would provide the basis for establishing a federal constitutional bench. The chairman of the judicial commission would be Chief Justice Yahya Afridi. In addition to the presiding judge, there would be three senior judges of the Supreme Court, federal minister for law and justice, attorney general, a lawyer nominated by Pakistan Bar Council with minimum 15 years of legal experience, who would be appointed for two years.

Four members of parliament and one member (minority or woman) would be nominated by the NA speaker, who would not be a member of parliament, but would be eligible for membership of Senate.

Sources reminded that under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, the authority to take notice and constitutional disputes would be transferred to the constitutional bench, due to which the change in the composition of Supreme Court Practices and Procedures Act had become inevitable. For this, the official draft law should be presented alternately in both the houses of parliament this week to get approval for it.

According to sources, space had been created for constitutional benches in the Islamabad High Court and the four provincial high courts. The provincial assemblies would be empowered to constitute a constitutional bench by a simple majority of their membership, while the approval of the joint session of parliament would be obtained for the creation of a constitutional bench in the Islamabad High Court.

A joint meeting for the purpose would be held early November. The Ministry of Law and Justice has decided to complete the initial work for the formation of a constitutional bench in the federal capital this week. In the meantime, it has been learnt that the features of the 27th Amendment would be finally brought forward by the government only when the support of all parties in parliament, including Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and MQM Pakistan, would be obtained. The focal point of the amendment was to make the provincial autonomy more stable, and there would be some other changes that would facilitate the attainment of justice.

On the other hand, the government sources say the 27th Constitutional Amendment was discussed in the meeting, but it was not correct to say that any consensus was reached between PMLN and PPP in this regard. According to sources, deliberations were held on devising a strategy for the 27th Amendment and for the purpose, getting two-thirds majority in parliament was stressed. For the purpose, Minister for Law and National Assembly Speaker were part of the meeting.

Earlier, MQM leader Farooq Sattar said, “We have reached an agreement with the PMLN regarding the 27th Constitutional Amendment.” It was also confirmed by Prime Minister's adviser Rana Sanaullah, saying the PM had promised the coalition parties that the 27th Constitutional Amendment would be brought in which there would also be talk of creating military courts. However, he was also of the view that “we want military courts to be established only in certain areas like FATA”.

Meanwhile, Maulana Fazlur Rehman had been repeating his position in the party's organisational gatherings for the last two or three days that if the 27th Amendment was presented, the JUIF would strongly resist it. He also demanded re-election in the country after some time.

Separately, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader MNA Latif Khosa accused Maulana Fazlur Rehman of taking a ‘U-turn’ on the 26h Constitutional Amendment by supporting it.

Speaking in a private TV show, he also claimed that the PTI founder chairman Imran Khan would be released from jail in November. “Maulana Fazlur Rehman sided with the government on the issue of the 26th Constitutional Amendment and withdrew from his own statement,” he contended and questioned that how come the Maulana become part of the two-thirds majority in the assembly which he himself did not believe in?

The PTI legislator insisted that the Maulana should not have been a part of the constitutional amendment and “we are justified to express over concern over it with him”. He said until Imran Khan comes out of jail, the party affairs should be handed over to Bushra Bibi and she or Aleema Khan should be made the focal person for the party.

Referring to difference of opinion in the party, he said that making Bushra Bibi the focal person would remove the ambiguity because at the moment there was confusion as Barrister Gohar was saying something and Salman Akram Raja was saying something else, and the same applied to the statements issued by Asad Qaiser and Omar Ayub.

He claimed that Imran Khan would be out of jail after the US presidential election and he would be released in November. He noted that the chances of Donald Trump winning the elections were bright, hoping he would play a role for the release of Imran Khan after being elected president.

Separately, Imran Khan’s lawyer Faisal Chaudhry reacted to being dropped from his legal team. Speaking in a private TV channel programme, when asked about his removal from the legal team of Imran, he noted that on the direction of Barrister Gohar, he had filed a petition. He also asked, “What is the legal team, I am Khan Sahib's lawyer”.

Faisal said the services of a lawyer are there “if I am delivering, then I will be around; if I can't then my client has the right to have any other lawyer. Lawyers are jealous of each other's success”.

“After the last meeting, when I was about to come out of the jail, I told Khan Sahib that I am going to file this petition. He said ‘go ahead’. After Khan Sahib's go ahead, I will not listen to anyone,” he made it clear.