JUI-F walks out of first parliamentary meeting on 27th constitutional amendment

Islamabad (Web Desk):The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) staged a walkout from the first meeting of the joint parliamentary standing committee on law and justice, convened to discuss the proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment bill.

Earlier, Senate Chairman Yousaf Raza Gillani had referred the bill to the committee for a detailed review. The joint parliamentary committee met in-camera to deliberate on the amendment, but tensions arose when JUI-F National Assembly member Aliya Kamran expressed strong reservations about certain provisions of the bill, particularly Article 243.

Kamran announced that her party would oppose any changes to Article 243, which concerns the control of the armed forces, and also raised concerns over clauses that had been dropped from the 26th Amendment but had been reintroduced in the 27th Amendment.

She criticized the inclusion of judicial matters in the bill, questioning whether judges of the proposed Federal Constitutional Court or the Supreme Court would wield more authority. Additionally, Kamran voiced discontent over the proposed increase in the number of advisers, stating, "In a poor country, increasing the number of advisers does not benefit the public."

After these objections, JUI-F members walked out of the session, signaling their disagreement with the proposed changes.

The committee session was subsequently adjourned until 11 am the following day to allow for further discussions.

In response, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar acknowledged JUI-F’s right to stage a walkout, but emphasized that the draft of the 27th Amendment had been shared with all political parties in advance. He urged opposition members to submit their suggestions in a constructive manner rather than outright rejecting the amendment.

Tarar also addressed concerns regarding the proposed Federal Constitutional Court, explaining that it had been under discussion for over 15 years. He noted that while it could not be implemented during the 18th Amendment, efforts had been made during the 26th Amendment, but opposition from JUI-F chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman had hindered progress. Tarar clarified that the initial idea was to create constitutional benches, but these had been ineffective due to the burden of resolving the large backlog of cases in the Supreme Court.

He pointed out that about 60 percent of the draft bill had been discussed during the meeting, with members raising questions that were addressed in a respectful manner.

Earlier in the week, the 27th Constitutional Amendment bill was presented in the Senate, with Law Minister Tarar requesting a suspension of the question hour to brief senators on the proposal. Senate Chairman Gillani then referred the bill to the Law and Justice Committee for a detailed review and called for the participation of the National Assembly’s law committee in the discussions, underscoring the importance of parliamentary traditions in handling constitutional amendments.