THE government narrowly passed constitutional amendments giving lawmakers more power appointing top judges, who have issued a series of recent decisions favouring opposition chief Imran Khan.
Since February elections marred by rigging allegations, relations have soured between Islamabad and the top courts as rulings litigating results have backed the party of jailed ex-prime minister Imran.
The 72-year-old former cricket star had been barred from running and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party claimed the courts were used to sideline their hugely popular campaign.
Under the judicial reforms passed during an early morning session of parliament yesterday, the chief justice of Pakistan will now be selected by a parliamentary committee and have a fixed term of three years. The amendments come just days before Supreme Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa is due to retire.
Under the previous law he would have been automatically replaced by the next most senior judge – currently Mansoor Ali Shah, who has consistently issued verdicts deemed favourable to Imran and his party.
New benches will be also formed of senior judges from across the country to weigh exclusively on constitutional issues, which have been at the core of recent disputes between the government and PTI in the Supreme Court.
As the Bill passed in a pre-dawn sitting, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said it was “a historic day... affirming the supremacy of Parliament”.
The government clinched 225 votes of the required 224 with the crucial support of a handful of rebel MPs from PTI, state media broadcasting the session showed.
Sharif heads a shaky coalition government that has the backing of the powerful military – despite Imran’s MPs winning the most seats in February’s election.
In July, the Supreme Court ruled that the Election Commission of Pakistan was wrong to have sidelined Imran’s party in the campaign by forcing its MPs to stand as independents over a technical violation.
It also awarded Imran’s party a handful of non-elected seats reserved for women and religious minorities, which would give Imran’s party the largest number of parliamentarians.
Other courts have also rolled back Imran’s personal convictions or sentences.
And earlier this year, six Pakistan high court judges accused the nation’s intelligence agency of intimidating and coercing them over “politically consequential” cases. — AFP
