Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, accompanied by PPP Senator Farooq H. Naek, on Wednesday urged Pakistan’s legal fraternity to help the government in finalizing a constitutional amendment package that seeks to bring about sweeping changes to the judiciary, including the retirement age of judges.
Addressing lawyers after an in-camera session of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) during which the legal bodies were briefed on the proposed constitutional changes, the minister stressed the amendments were currently in draft form. “It cannot be called a government bill unless it is approved by the cabinet,” he said, while backing the formation of a constitutional court to reduce the burden of the Supreme Court.
Maintaining that the PMLN was “part of a coalition government,” he said a constitutional court had been a longstanding demand of both his party and the PPP since they inked the Charter of Democracy in 2006. In this regard, he said, discussions were initiated with the PPP early this year on bringing about judicial reforms to “complete the agenda of the Charter of Democracy.”
Calling on lawyers to form committees and forward recommendations to the government on whether to raise the retirement age of judges from 65 to 68, he further said constitutional courts existed in several other countries already and could help reduce the pendency of cases before the superior judiciary.
According to the law minister, the president on the prime minister’s advice would appoint the first chief justice of a potential constitutional court. Its remaining judges, he said, would be appointed with the CJ’s appointment while the Judicial Commission of Pakistan would continue to appoint all other Supreme Court and high court judges. The proposed constitutional package, he said, called for the Judicial Commission to include four members from both houses of Parliament; two each from the treasury and opposition benches.
The proposed reforms, he said, would also empower the Judicial Commission to recommend retirement or removal of inefficient high court judges through the Supreme Judicial Council. To concerns over allowing trials of civilians in military courts through the amendments, Tarar said this section was removed over a lack of consensus.
Lawyers speak out
In his speech, SCBA President Shahzad Shaukat read out a declaration stressing that lawyers accepted the authority of Parliament to bring about a constitutional amendment, but noted it had no authority to amend the basic structure of the Constitution. For a meaningful dialogue, he said, the SCBA would constitute a committee of all bar councils and associations to discuss the issue. He also discouraged calls for a lawyers’ strike over the proposed amendments, saying the leadership of the legal bodies could only determine this.
Senator Naek, who is also the vice-chairman of the PBC, said the Constitution could be amended based on public aspirations. He said constitutional courts were already working in all Western democracies, and the model was also recognized in Russia, Thailand and Indonesia. He urged lawyers to debate the potential impact of a constitutional court on the independence of the judiciary.
Over the weekend, the government attempted to pass the controversial constitutional package, but was stymied by the refusal of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to support it, denying the ruling coalition the two-thirds majority required for constitutional amendments. For now, the government has “deferred” the legislation, vowing that negotiations would continue with all stakeholders to secure consensus.