JUI-F chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman has said on Friday that JUI-F was committed to support judicial reforms therefore party’s legal team was working on proposed draft, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Talking to media in Multan, Fazl said that we have started work on the preparation of the draft, which will take few days. He claimed that the government’s proposed draft was aimed at limiting human rights. He said the government wanted to enhance the role of security forces and shelving human rights that was why JUI-F refused the government that it will not support the proposed amendments bill.
Fazl said that the government told him that it is withdrawing proposals to extend the tenure of judges and increase the number of judges but there is a proposal to establish a federal constitutional court. He said JUI-F demanded of the government that the draft of the constitutional amendments should be shown first and then the discussion regarding support of the bill will take place.
JUI-F chief said finally the government gave them a copy of the proposed bill.
He said that the copy of the draft was reviewed by our lawyers. He said “We are sorry to see the draft”. The constitution protects the rights of every citizen, but in this constitutional amendment, an exemption has been given to the military, but the scope of the fundamental rights in the draft has been shelved. The immunity clause has been extended and the human rights chapter has been limited.
He said that the govt draft included provisions regarding the appointment and transfer of judges which will greatly affect the system. He said that the government will transfer a judge who will give decision against it.
The head of JUI said that there is a concept of Federal Constitutional Court in the Charter of Democracy, he admitted that 60,000 cases of common people were currently pending in the Supreme Court while 2.4 million cases are pending in the courts across the country. He said this backlog is an argument that there is need of a constitutional court.
He said that Bilawal visited him and we both agreed that we should make a draft which should be shared with each other and reach a consensus because the work of Parliament is constitution making. He said that “We will not tolerate any restrictions on the work of the parliament, but if the balance of power between the institutions is not maintained, it can also harm the country”.