ISLAMABAD: The government is poised to table the final draft of the proposed constitutional amendments in both houses of the parliament today — a day after rigourous efforts to bring the treasury and opposition parties on the same page. The PTI has claimed that 13 of its MPs have gone missing. The Chairman PTI said that 11 MNAs and two senators seem to have defected to the government side. MNAs include Zain Qureshi, Zahoor Quresini, Aslam Ghuman, Senators Zaraq and Faisal Saleem. Three PTI MNA who were later renderered independent also also in the list.
Federal Minister for Law Azam Nazeer Tarar, in a press conference held in the wee hours of Sunday, said that the federal cabinet will hold another sitting at 2:30pm today to review and approve the final draft of the contentious 26th Constitutional Amendment.The ruling and opposition parties continued to hold separate meetings to attain the desired outcome before the cabinet finally met on late Saturday night to discuss the constitutional tweaks, after multiple delays.
The minister, flanked by Information Minister Ataullah Tarar, informed journalists that the cabinet members were briefed over the draft approved by parliament’s special committee during the meeting.He went on to say that the federal cabinet would give a go-ahead to the final draft after making modifications recommended by the special committee — which comprises the treasury and the opposition lawmakers.
If approved by the federal cabinet, the draft will likely be introduced in the Senate and National Assembly during today’s sessions scheduled for 3pm and 6pm, respectively.
The law minister expressed optimism that the voting on the draft of the proposed legal reforms will be conducted after it is tabled in today’s sessions.
The coalition government now maintains that it has achieved the ‘magic number’ to pass the tweaks to the Constitution, however, the tabling of the judicial package in the parliament was facing delays due to attempts being made to evolve broader consensus among all political parties.
