Islamabad, 21 Oct. 2024

Pakistan's parliament passed 22-point 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill 2024 required a two-thirds majority to alter the constitution by both the houses, Upper House of Senate and lower house of National Assembly by 65 and 225 votes. Opposition party 'Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of jailed ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan boycotted the vote.

Earlier, federal Cabinet led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved the proposed draft after seeking consensus from the government’s coalition parties.

The 26th Amendment introduces significant changes to the Constitution, primarily affecting the judiciary. Key reforms include removing the Supreme Court's suo motu powers; limiting the term of the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) to three years; and granting the prime minister the authority to appoint the next CJP from among the three senior-most SC judges.

The bill, along with other amendments, has approved the establishment of a permanent five-member Constitutional Bench from the Supreme Court to exclusively hear political and constitutional cases. This will allow other Supreme Court judges to focus on the backlog of general public cases, many of which have been pending for years. Politicians, particularly Imran Khan's PTI, have been involving supportive judiciary members to resolve their political disputes, leaving the general public to suffer. Currently, over 56,000 cases are waiting for a decision in the Supreme Court of Pakistan alone.

Pakistan Supreme Court has presently around 18 judges and two Adhoc members of Shariat Appellate Bench.

PTI's Senator Ali Zafar, Opposition leader in Senate said the PTI and its allies did not take part in the voting in protest as the new amendments will 'damage' the constitution, however, four votes were cast in opposition to the bill. As per normal attitude and practice of PTI accused the government of harassing and intimidating PTI lawmakers, which government rejected.

It is interesting to mention that on one side PTI raising slogans of boycotting the said bill misguiding its party followers, whereas same time PTI has nominated its two parliamentarians Barrister Ali Zafar and Hamid Raza for the 12-member parliamentary committee to be constituted to appoint new Chief Justice which itself confirms fully agreeing with the approved Constitutional Amendment 26th Bill. The bill was approved by the president of Pakistan today and announced in gazette.

A special parliamentary committee was established last month, comprising representatives from all political parties, including PTI and JUI, political party with five senators and eight National Assembly members—vital for the bill's approval, to review the various proposals and finalize the bill's contents.

The bill experienced multiple delays as consensus had to be reached among all political parties, however, after several postponements driven by tactics from the imprisoned Imran Khan-led PTI, the bill was eventually presented in both the Senate and the National Assembly.

Initially, the ruling alliance had recommended the idea of a Constitutional Court, equivalent to the Supreme Court, to hear political and constitutional cases, however, on suggestions from other parties including PTI, it was later amended to form a bench.

Among other latest amendments include, the Supreme Court's chief justice will be appointed for a three-year period by the government on the recommendation of a 12-member parliamentary committee. The committee, comprising proportional membership from parties in parliament, will pick the top judge among the three most senior with a two-thirds majority. Previously, the senior-most judge would automatically become chief justice and continue serving until the retirement age of 65.

In addition, a judicial commission led by the chief justice and comprising the four most senior judges, along with four lawmakers and a representative of the Pakistan Bar Council, will appoint the new supreme court judges. Instead of the chief justice, the judicial commission will decide the benches and their members following approval of the new legislation.

The package also included the ending of the country's interest-based financial system by 2028.