‘Package’: The Night of the Parliamentarians

ISLAMABAD: An air of mysterious uncertainty accentuated with lingering confusion over the much-hyped constitutional package for superior judiciary remained prevalent throughout the Sunday too, as the government failed to bring the related bill and kept rescheduling the respective sessions of the two houses of parliament— before finally deciding to convene the National Assembly and Senate meetings today (Monday).

The NA session was scheduled to meet at 11:30 am and Senate at 4 pm on Sunday to take up the constitutional amendment. However, following intense negotiations between the government side and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazal-ur-Rahman, both the NA and Senate sessions were rescheduled; Senate till 7 pm and NA till 8 pm.

Adding to the confusion, the sessions were again rescheduled till 10:pm amidst the reports that the treasury side lacked the numerical strength in the two houses of the parliament to get the constitutional amendment passed, and it was waiting for certain lawmakers, who were on their way to Pakistan from abroad, to meet the required two-thirds majority in the parliament.

‘Amendment package’ likely to be tabled today

The meetings between the political bigwigs kept making headlines throughout the day. Reportedly, President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, President Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Nawaz Sharif, Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, among others, approached the JUI-F chief and Balochistan National Party Mengal (BNP-M) chief Akhtar Mengal as part of their purportedly desperate bids to woo the support of JUI-F and BNP-M.

Reports also surfaced that the sessions were postponed till Monday after the JUI-F and BNP-M expressed their reservations over certain provisions of the judicial package, and refused to support the government in this regard.

Some reports indicated that a “mega” deal, between the government representatives and Fazl, over power-sharing, was in the offing.

The JUI-F chief’s arrival in the Parliament House Sunday late-night fuelled peculations that consensus was finally reached between the treasury side and Fazl’s political party.

After reaching the Parliament House, an all smiling Fazl headed straight to the special committee’s room dealing with the constitutional package for superior judiciary.

The JUI-F chief remained in the committee room for over an hour, as scores of journalists from different media outlets, who were in the Parliament House since Sunday morning, anxiously waited outside in quest of some “crucial information.”

But Fazl left the committee room without holding any formal media talk, giving an impression that all was not well between the government and Fazl’s party.

Later, in a brief media interaction, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said, “Maulana did not support us,” before leaving the scene.

Prior to this, the ruling camp, as well as the opposition led by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), kept claiming that their respective sides were in dominant positions.

The leaders from the ruling side claimed that they had enough numbers to get the constitutional amendment sailed through the parliament. On the other hand, the PTI leaders claimed that they were in position to defeat the government’s judicial package in the parliament. The Senate and NA sessions are now scheduled at 12:30 pm today.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024