Anti-government, anti-PTI, how important are constitutional courts?

The coalition parties in the government of Pakistan are determined to approve the package of judicial reforms through constitutional amendments. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Concerns are being expressed by opposition parties including (PTI).

In this regard, founder chairman PTI Imran Khan has also called for protest to stop the establishment of federal constitutional courts.

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) seems more motivated towards this goal than the ruling party, the Muslim League-N. But the government is currently facing difficulty in getting the constitutional amendments approved due to the lack of two-thirds majority in the National Assembly and the Senate.

Despite this, the chairman of the People’s Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, in his speech at the Karachi Bar on Tuesday, has bluntly announced that ‘constitutional amendments will be made and the establishment of a federal constitutional court will be a must.’

Advisor to the Prime Minister Rana Sanaullah also announced that ‘constitutional courts will be established in any case, no one can stop them.’

On the other hand, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam has not expressed its willingness to support the government in this regard, while the government leaders are claiming that talks with them are ongoing.

On the other hand, the leader of Tehreek-e-Insaf, Hamid Khan, has said that we will not allow the constitution to be tampered with by establishing constitutional courts. Lawyers’ movement has been started against it, first a convention was held in Lahore and now they will do it in Karachi.

According to analyst Saleem Bukhari, examples of constitutional courts exist in many developed countries of the world. Those who sit in the position of Chief Justice in Pakistan have damaged the parliamentary supremacy in the past. Now it is necessary to eliminate its scope. This is happening now not under political planning but under the democratic charter made in 2006 which has the signatures of all major political leaders including Imran Khan, Maulana.

Possible preparation of government parties and opposition strategy

PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah while talking to Independent Urdu said, “Listen to those who say it will happen, it will happen. The Constitutional Court will happen in any case.” This is the demand of democracy. All government parties including People’s Party have completed the preparation. Maulana Fazlur Rahman also agrees on the establishment of these courts.

He said that the political parties are united on a good process and the remaining details, in which the age of the judges should be, the method of appointing the judges or what the powers will be, are being discussed for improvement.

Rana Sanaullah said that ‘what we have decided so far is that one of the three senior judges of the Supreme Court should be appointed as the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court. Now there is a debate about whether to install such and such or to install such and such. This debate is futile. The three senior judges include Justice Qazi Faiz Isa, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Muneeb Akhtar.

Shazia Atta Murri said while talking to the media in Islamabad on Wednesday that the People’s Party is not for any political interest but is trying to ensure the stability of the institutions and to ensure cheap and quick justice to the people. In the present judicial system, decisions of cases are delayed for many years. People need justice.

“It is wrong to think that legislation is in progress for a single judge. It was also included in the Democratic Charter and the Eighteenth Amendment. A respected judge is being made controversial. Tehreek-e-Imran-e-Insaaf is standing in the way of justice while those PTI people admit in private gatherings that constitutional courts should be formed. But they score political points in public. We asked them to give suggestions for improvement and not to criticize for the sake of criticism. We also want to create family courts so that the common man can get quick justice.’

Former President of the Supreme Court and PTI leader Hamid Khan has said in a conversation with Independent Urdu that ‘by keeping the constitutional amendments secret, their malice has come to light, they not only condemn these constitutional amendments but will not allow them to pass. Imran Khan has announced the protest. We are also holding lawyers’ convention in Karachi after Lahore. Lawyers movement has started against him.

According to Hamid Khan, ‘We do not accept any constitutional package which leads to violating the constitution itself. As the amendment is debated it is kept open. But laws made in secret ways are not based on good intentions, so we do not believe in any constitutional court.’

There has been no progress regarding specific seats in the Election Commission yet, the Supreme Court has ordered the Election Commission in a detailed decision to provide specific seats to Tehreek-e-Insaf. The Election Commission has not taken any decision in this regard yet.

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If the Election Commission notifies the decision of the Supreme Court to give specific seats to PTI, then the problem may remain for the government.

But if the Election Commission, acting on the letter of the Speaker of the National Assembly, notifies the re-distribution of these specific seats to the previous parties, then the ruling coalition can get a two-thirds majority.

After the Practice and Procedure Ordinance, the committee headed by the Chief Justice has fixed the hearing on September 30 on the appeal related to the interpretation of 63A and has also constituted a five-member bench for it.

If the court restores the law of counting votes cast by floor crossing members, the ruling coalition may get a chance to combine with other members of the assembly and achieve a two-thirds majority.

The ruling coalition also has the option that Maulana Fazlur Rehman agrees to support the government in approving this constitutional package after the reservations in the constitutional amendment are removed.

When Rana Sanaullah was asked the reason for the government’s claim, he said, “We have just prepared, which will be known to everyone when the time comes.”

Is the establishment of constitutional courts a new tradition?

Hamid Khan said that many countries including India, Canada and Australia do not have a constitutional court. Even here there is no need for a constitutional court, its purpose is to destroy the constitution.

Former Vice Chairman Pakistan Bar Council Amjad Hussain Shah while talking to Independent Urdu said that ‘It is the parliamentary right of the government to improve the constitution over time or bring amendments in it which is given to them by the constitution of Pakistan. As far as constitutional courts are concerned, the Supreme Court Bar or the Pakistan Bar Council have no objection to their establishment. However, we are preparing our proposals based on what was told to us about the appointment of judges and the powers of the courts, etc.

According to Amjad Shah, ‘constitutional courts have been a demand of bar associations since the beginning. Because the backlog of cases in the current system has increased beyond limits. Therefore, we will prepare our proposals and give them to the government who will change their constitutional amendment package accordingly.

He said that under Article 239 of the Constitution, the Parliament can amend the Constitution with a two-thirds majority. Since 1973, 25 amendments have been made in the Constitution in which no amendment is in conflict with the Constitution. This is not a new tradition, but constitutional courts exist in 85 countries of the world, including Germany, Russia, Belgium, Luxembourg, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa, Portugal, Spain and Austria. The first constitutional court in the world was established in Austria in 1919.

Analyst Saleem Bukhari while talking to Independent Urdu said that when the Charter of Democracy was signed in 2006 during the Musharraf era, Nawaz Sharif, Benazir Bhutto, along with Imran Khan and Maulana Fazlur Rahman also signed in agreement. The decision of constitutional courts was made at that time, but due to political and judicial interference, these courts did not come into existence. .’

He said that ‘in the past, the way the post of Chief Justice was used to achieve political goals and people were deprived of justice not for years but for decades. Considering these circumstances, constitutional courts are the need of the hour, so all political parties should be formed by consensus.