Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said on the floor of the Senate that the government was going to bring the 27th Amendment to the Constitution soon, thus making official what PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had already revealed in a recent tweet, Mr Bhutto Zardari had made this revelation while replaying to PTI member Ali Zafar, who had raised the issue at the beginning of the sitting on Tuesday. Thus Senator Dar converted a tweet from a government ally to a commitment by the Deputy Prime Minister on the floor of Parliament. The Amendment would get smoother sailing than the 26th, which resulted in Parliament being summoned to pass it and then prorogued without doing so. Now that the women’s seats have been allocated to the exclusion of the PTI, the ruling coalition seems to enjoy the needed two-thirds majority in the National Assembly. On the occasion of the 26th Amendment, the JUI(F), with its handful of MNAs and of Senators became essential. Now its MNAs will not be needed, though its Senators still will be.
However, a sign of the difficulties ahead for the government came from the PPP’s Senator Reza Rabbani, who described the amendment as a reversal of the 18th Amendment. Senator Rabbani had headed the committee which passed the 18th Amendment. Mr Bhutto Zardari made no comment either way about the amendment, though he did reveal that it was to set up a constitutional court. At the time of the passage of the 26th, Mr Bhutto Zardari had said that the constitutional benches it set up within the superior courts was a step towards the creation of a constitutional court. Then there is the removal of the preservation of the cap on the federal- provincial division of the divisible pool. That might well prove a bone of contention between the coalition partners, especially as the National Finance Commission is scheduled to make a fresh Award.
Perhaps the most important factor in the whole episode is that even before passage, it has become clear that there will probably not be enough discussion on the Amendment. Senator Dar promised differently, asserting confidently that the Amendment would not be rushed through. Amendments to the Constitution are different from ordinary legislation. That is the reason while the latter is relatively easily passed, there is still an emergency procedure of ordinance promulgation. However, there is no way of amending the Constitution rapidly, for a reason, that such amendments must be made after due consideration and debate, with sufficient time given to make it possible to look at the draft carefully. SWith the Amendment to be introduced as early as Friday (tomorrow), that time is not available.
