Pak’s JUI-F dismisses rumours of supporting proposed constitutional amendment

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ISLAMABAD: The JUI-F has dismissed rumours that its president Maulana Fazlur Rehman has agreed to lend support to the PML-N-led ruling coalition on a proposed constitutional amendment, according to a media report on Wednesday. The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) has claimed that the decision to table the ‘Constitutional Package’ in Parliament had been postponed by the government at its request, The Dawn newspaper reported.
The paper quoted sources in the party as saying that the stance regarding opposition to the amendment had not changed, calling the matter “disputed”.
According to a JUI-F source, the government agreed to postpone the amendment at the demand of Maulana Rehman. “Now…this matter will be taken up after the SCO summit,” said a party office-bearer.
On Monday, the Maulana attended a multi-party moot on Palestine at the invitation of the president and the prime minister and also held a meeting with the bigwigs of the ruling coalition, giving rise to speculations that he had agreed to support the government.
However, according to the party spokesperson, there was no truth to these reports while insiders termed the amendment disputed which the JUI-F chief would not agree to “under the current circumstances”.
Sources said the JUI-F endorsed a separate constitutional court but expressed reservations over the constitutional amendment.
“Our concern was based on common sense – we demanded the document that we were supposed to vote for, but the government negotiating teams failed to do so,” a senior party official remarked on the dialogue between the government and the JUI-F last month.
The JUI-F still expects the government to share the draft with the party. The JUI-F leader said they would also share their draft on the constitutional court with the government and expected the government to do the same. In order to take everyone on board, the JUI-F leaders have suggested a separate constitutional bench instead of an independent court.
On the other hand, the government is almost ready to table the constitutional amendment, and sources in the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) believe that this time, it would not be rushed through Parliament.
“There will be separate sessions of the National Assembly and Senate and it is likely to be held on October 18,” they added.
It is likely that the National Assembly and Senate sessions will separately be convened on the same day and after getting it cleared from one house, the amendment would be introduced in the other the same day.
In order to achieve a two-thirds majority, the ruling alliance has been trying to win over Maulana Rehman as well as some Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-linked lawmakers whose votes against the party line would not be annulled following a review of Article 63A of the Constitution.
The Pakistan Peoples Party and PML-N are in contact with Akhtar Mengal, the head of the Balochistan National Party (BNP-M) as well, hoping to secure the support of two BNP senators.
Sardar Mengal, who recently resigned from the National Assembly, is still a member of the house as his resignation hasn’t been accepted by the NA speaker, Dawn reported.