Reservations voiced over constitutional package

LAHORE — The Pakistan Muslim League-N has expressed its reservations over some points of the proposed 18th constitution amendment draft which was presented by Law Minister Farooq Naek to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif at the latter’s Raiwind residence yesterday.
The reservations were expressed about the provisions concerning the reinstatement of the deposed judges. Naek flew into the city to meet the PML-N leader and hand him a copy of the 62-point package which, if passed, would drastically change the constitution.
A number of PML-N leaders, including Shahbaz Sharif, MNA Khwaja Asif and Punjab Advocate-General-designate Khwaja Haris, were present when the law minister submitted a copy of the package.
A number of articles concerning the powers of the president are proposed to be amended and the authority taken away from the president will be given to the prime minister, who will also be made the country’s chief executive. The PML-N supports all amendments which will cut the president to size.
Naek told reporters that the copy of the package had also been sent to coalition partners Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Altaf Hussain and Asfandyar Wali. He said the package was just a set of proposals which would be modified in the light of suggestions given by various parties.
Our Islamabad correspondent adds: The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has delivered copies of the constitutional package to its three coalition partners which would be given a final shape and introduced in parliament after receiving their comments.
Law Minister Farooq Naek who handed over the copy to PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif in Lahore yesterday had earlier delivered it to top leaders of Awami National Party (ANP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam. PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari approved the draft on Saturday.
The package, which will be introduced in parliament as the 18th Amendment Bill, clips powers of the president and subject the exercise of these to the advice of the prime minister.
It also attempts to block military takeover and collaboration by the judiciary. Radical changes in the procedure for appointment and removal of judges, election commission and other some other institutions have been proposed. The controversial clause to restrict the tenure of the chief justice has been left open to suggestion by the coalition partners.
The bill is likely to be tabled in the National Assembly after the approval of the budget. Its adoption in the assembly is certain because of the two-thirds majority enjoyed by the coalition.
But the coalition needs cooperation of the PML-Q in the Senate where it does not have even a simple majority. This ground reality has rendered the move of proposing the package as dubious and an attempt to divert attention from the lawyers’ movement for restoration of deposed judges.
Earlier, presiding over a meeting of the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB), the law minister said the government has decided to scrap the local government system, introduced in 2001, as all provinces had expressed reservations over the arrangement.
The constitution needs to be amended for the purpose. Farooq Naek said there was a proposal to revive the previous local bodies system and the proposed constitutional package also contained some clauses in it.
The proposed bill also envisages abolition of the concurrent list to grant more autonomy to the provinces.