Change in constitutional package will not change real objective

ISLAMABAD: The objective behind the PMLN-PPP’s earlier proposal -- now dropped -- of increasing the age of Supreme Court judges or their present campaign for the creation of a constitutional court remains the same: don’t let any judge (or judges) threaten the present system and lead to political instability.

Previously, the purpose of increasing the retirement age of judges was to ensure the continuation of the incumbent chief justice, which would have delayed the elevation of Justice Mansoor Ali Shah as the CJP for three years.

Now the emphasis is on the creation of a Federal Constitutional Court. If this objective is achieved, no one among the ruling coalition or in the establishment will have any objection to the appointment of Justice Mansoor Ali Shah as chief justice of the Supreme Court. The SC, following the creation of the Constitutional Court, will not be mandated to hear constitutional and political cases.

The July 12 verdict in the reserved seats case -- authored by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah -- is seen as a possible threat to the present system backed by the establishment, PPP and PML-N. All three want political stability and worry that any ‘misadventure’ by the judiciary would end up hurting the economy, which has started showing signs of improvement.

Following the reserved seats verdict by eight judges led by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah in a full court hearing, the PTI and its founder-chairman Imran Khan started talking about the fall of the Shehbaz government and its replacement by a PTI government after the arrival of a new chief justice in the last week of Oct 2024. On the other end, the PML-N started getting anxious that the Feb 8 election disputes would be taken up by the post-Justice Qazi Faez Isa Supreme Court to the advantage of the PTI.

The reserved seats judgment also upset the powers-that-be. The decision to introduce a constitutional amendment for the reformation of the superior judiciary was taken after the July 12 decision of the SC. Justice Mansoor Ali Shah was the author of the majority judgment.

After the recent failure of the government to get its constitutional amendment package passed, now a second effort will be made -- possibly in next week.

The PML-N’s chief whip in the National Assembly, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, told The News -- without indicating when the constitutional package would be presented before parliament -- that the government has a Plan-A and Plan-B for the passage of the constitutional package.

According to him, under Plan-A, the target is to get the constitutional package through with Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s support. In case that does not happen, “we have a Plan-B”, said Chaudhry -- without disclosing what Plan-B is.

After the embarrassing failure of the first attempt, the PML-N now seems to have left it to the PPP and its chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to make the ground for a constitutional package that is now focusing on a constitutional court.

Bilawal and other PPP leaders are currently involved in a hectic campaign in favour of a Constitutional Court and other reforms in the judiciary. Bilawal has been addressing lawyers’ bodies in different parts of the country. He insists that everyone will have to accept the federal constitutional court which will have representation from all the provinces.

In a recent talk, he said that reforms in the judicial system are vital and he will not rest until a constitutional court is established.