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After multiple delays, the federal government is expected to meet at 2pm today (Saturday) to mull the much-touted 26th constitutional amendment while the National Assembly and the Senate sessions are also to resume afterwards.
The Constitutional Package is legislation proposing a set of constitutional amendments, including the extension of the chief justice’s term. A special parliamentary committee formed last month — which has the representation of all parties, including the PTI — has been discussing various proposals.
On October 11, the PPP made its proposals public, following which it and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) agreed on a shared draft of the amendments.
The federal cabinet was earlier scheduled to meet on Friday evening. However, it was later announced that a special cabinet meeting would take place on Saturday morning to approve the draft bill.
Today, the 9:30am session was again postponed till 10am, then till 12pm and is now supposed to meet at 2pm — a total of four delays.
According to a statement by the NA on its X account, yesterday’s session of the lower house of the parliament was adjourned till 3pm today. The Constitutional package is not part of the NA agenda, which was shared on X.
The Senate, whose session was to resume at 12:30pm according to Radio Pakistan, is also yet to convene.
While the government seemed confident of introducing the amendment draft in the Senate on Friday, the plans did not materialise after JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman threatened to walk out of negotiations over alleged harassment of opposition lawmakers to secure support for the bill.
PPP’s Syed Khursheed Shah, who is spearheading the special parliamentary committee, claimed earlier on Friday that a “unanimous” consensus had been achieved within the body.
However, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari later warned that if political parties in the parliament did not reach a consensus, he would push the amendment through parliament using a brute, or two-thirds, majority with coalition ally PML-N.
Fazl mediates amid ‘duress’ allegations
Friday saw Fazl’s residence become the centre of attention as opposition leaders and members of the ruling coalition held simultaneous meetings with him, with PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari seeing the JUI-F chief three times within 24 hours.
Fazl has been playing a key mediating role as the opposition voices concerns about the proposed amendments as well as alleges intimidation of its lawmakers for their support for the draft.
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