- Says establishment of constitutional court aims at ending power of chief justice
RAWALPINDI: Incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan on Wednesday declared that his party was fully backing Justice Mansoor Ali Shah to become the country’s next top judge, emphasizing the appointment of the next chief justice should be announced soon.
“PTI fully back Justice Mansoor Ali Shah as the government want their own judges to cover the [2024] election fraud and stop the PTI from rising at any cost,” former prime minister Imran said while speaking to journalists in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail on Wednesday.
The PTI founder said that the purpose of the “constitutional court is to end the power” of the Supreme Court’s chief justice, adding that the “government is bent on destroying the judiciary”.
The government pushed the proposed constitutional package amid speculation about a potential extension in the tenure of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, who is set to retire in October this year, following the PTI’s request last month for the early issuance of a notification regarding the appointment of the next top judge.
However, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), despite having the support of its allies such as the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and others, had postponed introducing the constitutional amendments in the parliament despite claiming to have secured the “magic number” earlier.
The deferment came after Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) refused to lend its support to the ruling coalition, short of 13 votes in the National Assembly (NA) and nine in the Senate as the said legislation, aimed at amending the Constitution, requires a two-thirds majority in both houses.
In the National Assembly, the ruling coalition needs 224 votes to pass the constitutional amendments, whereas in the Senate the number stands at 64. Currently, as per reports, treasury benches have 211 members against the opposition’s 101 MNAs.
Although JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has so far remained seemingly unwilling to back the amendments, which he, in fact, has termed a bid to protect the coalition government,
Adviser on Political and Public Affairs and PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah had hinted at evolving “minimum consensus” among political parties on controversial judiciary-centric constitutional amendments that also included the proposal to establish constitutional court — which PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto has said would be introduced “come what may”.
The PM’s aide also said that the consultation process with other political parties on the judicial package has not stalled as the Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari-led PPP and Maulana Fazlur Rehman-led JUI-F were working on their draft amendments.
He added that the drafts could be discussed in the forthcoming consultative sessions after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s return from the United States and opined that the government would table the constitutional package after developing a “minimum consensus”.
