Fazl rejects constitutional package draft

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has rejected the draft of the constitutional package aimed at amending judicial and parliamentary systems.

"The draft we were given is acceptable," Fazl said while talking to journalists after attending a luncheon at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Qaiser’s residence on Wednesday. Omar Ayub, Barrister Gohar and former president Arif Alvi were also present.

Fazl said they completely rejected the conditional amendments draft provided by the government.

“It was shared with specific individuals, not with everyone.”

“Had we agreed to the constitutional package, it would have been the biggest breach of the nation's trust,” he added.

For his part, Asad Qaiser castigated the incumbent rulers for ‘concealing’ the draft of the constitutional package, which he said contained at least 56 amendments, even from its parliamentarians. “We do not accept this legislation in any respect.”

The PTI leader said that the future course of action will be decided after consultation with all opposition parties. However, he mentioned, they will table this matter in tomorrow’s lawyers’ convention in Lahore.

Responding to a question about any contact from the government in this regard, Qaiser said that no formal contact was made from the other side.

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar pointed out the alleged contradiction in the statements of ruling coalition partners — Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto.

"In the assembly, Khawaja Asif stated this is the draft, whose contents have been shared on social media]; however, Bilawal Bhutto said this is not the same draft; it's a different one," Gohar said and added, "Whatever the draft is, both parties – PTI and JUI-F– have rejected it."

“We contacted Maulana Fazlur Rehman only at the request of founder PTI. Both parties have rejected the currently circulating draft,” Barrister Gohar said.

He rejected a report about the PTI founder’s remarks against Fazl, saying that the statement attributed to the PTI founder has ‘nothing to do with reality’,

Asad Qaiser said: “It never happened that there was a constitutional amendment and the draft was hidden from the parliamentarians. We won’t accept such legislation.”

Regarding the posting of Public Accounts Committee Chairman, Qaiser said the opposition party sit in the parliamentary committees

“If the PAC chief comes from the government, we will not continue sitting in other committees.”

In an informal chat with the media, the PTI founder said the reason why the ruling coalition wanted to get the constitutional amendments passed was that it wanted to extend the tenures of three ‘umpires’ namely Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Aamer Farooq and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja so that they could give legal cover to the rigged general elections.

He said that though the government enjoyed the support of some ‘big fish’ for the purpose, it failed to achieve its objective.

Asked if the government had given up on its plan to introduce amendments, the PTI founder said: “No that is not the case. Right now, the government is busy enlisting the support of the required number of members of the parliament (MPs). They have to introduce amendments come what may.”

Stressing the need for political unity to save democracy, the former prime minister said that if Maulana Fazl now stood by democracy, then it was a good omen. “What these people fear is that if the present chief justice of Pakistan retires on time, then investigations into the May 9 incidents of violence and rigged February 8 general elections will begin.”