Claiming that the draft of the constitutional amendments doing rounds in the media was not correct, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday announced that the party would prepare a new draft. Talking to a private news channel, Bilawal said that JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman was also busy preparing the draft. “We will reach a consensus with Maulana on a single draft,” he said. The controversial amendments aimed at giving the executive more power over the judiciary are the latest bone of contention between the government and the opposition. And despite the fact that the government looked confident that it would be able to get the legislation passed by enlisting the support of the required number of MNAs and senators, from the treasury and opposition benches, it badly failed in its efforts.

But even after receiving the setback, the government insisted that it had not backed down and the proposals to alter the constitution were still on the table. The opposition, mainly led by former prime minister Imran Khan’s PTI slammed the proposed reforms, calling them “unconstitutional” and saying that no draft of the proposed changes had been shared with them or the media. According to statements made by the opposition parties and local media reports, the government’s package includes more than 50 proposals, most of them concerning the judiciary.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan