The Senate session finally began on late Saturday night after being rescheduled multiple times with the tabling of the 26th constitutional amendment is on the cards.
The Senate session is being chaired by deputy chairman Syedal Khan Nasar. The National Assembly session rescheduled for 9pm today also began shortly after the Senate session only to be adjourned till 10.30am tomorrow (Sunday).
However, the Senate sitting adjourned for half an hour.
The coalition government — the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) after reaching a consensus with JUI-F are expected to table the proposed constitutional amendment bill in the house tonight.
After holding back-to-back meetings with Maulana Fazlur Rehman, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that his party and the JUI-F chief have reached a 100% consensus on the proposed constitutional amendment.
The statement comes as the PPP chief is making last ditch effort to evolve a consensus on the judicial package among all political parties including the PTI.
Constitutional amendments at a glance
As per the draft, approved by the parliamentary body and obtained by Geo News, the commission for appointment of the SC judges would comprise the citing chief justice, four senior most judges of the top court, federal law minister, attorney-general for Pakistan, an advocate nominated by Pakistan Bar Council, two members from the Senate and as many from the National Assembly.
“The question whether any, and if so what, advice was tendered to the president by the cabinet, or the prime minister, shall not be inquired into in, or by, any court, tribunal or other authority”, read the draft.
The constitutional benches, as per the amendment draft, may comprise an equal number of judges from each province.
“The CJP, on completion term of three years, shall stand retired notwithstanding his age superannuation,” reads the draft.
The amendment also proposes a restructuring of the SJC via tweaks to Article 209 of the Constitution and suggests that the body is to comprise the CJP, the two next most senior judges of the SC, and the two most senior chief justices of the high courts.
This is a developing story and is being updated with more details.
