ISLAMABAD: The standing committees on law and justice of both houses of Parliament convened a joint session on Sunday to further discuss the proposed bill for the 27th Constitutional Amendment.
Yesterday, the bill for Constitution (Twenty-Seventh Amendment) Act, 2025 was tabled before the Senate hours after it was approved by the federal cabinet, triggering noisy protests from the opposition over the pace and scope of the proposed changes.
The bill proposes the creation of a Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), changes to the appointment process for high court judges, a higher cap on provincial cabinets, and changes to the military leadership structure.
Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice Chairperson Senator Farooq H. Naek and his counterpart for the National Assembly panel, MNA Chaudhry Mahmood Bashir Virk, are co-chairing today’s meeting.
The standing committees are also likely to finalise the mechanism for the transfer of high court judges through the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) — a process which may not require the consent of the judges being transferred.
The panels cleared nearly 80 per cent of the proposed bill yesterday in a joint in-camera meeting, including most clauses of the judicial reforms package.
But deliberations on the field marshal’s status under Article 243 (command of the armed forces) of the Constitution were deferred to today.
Lawmakers of the PTI, the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) continued their boycott of the parliamentary committee today.
Tarar and Minister of State for Law and Justice Barrister Aqeel Malik were among those who participated in today’s meeting. Deputy PM and PML-N leader Ishaq Dar briefly attended the proceedings.
PML-N Senator Khalil Tahir Sindhu, Awami National Party’s (ANP) Hidayatullah Khan, and PPP MNAs Kasim Gilani and Syed Abrar Ali Shah were also part of the joint moot, while PML-N MNA Shumaila Rana attended via video link.
“Day 2 of the Parliamentary Committee on law and justice,” Gilani wrote on X.
In another post, he summarised that the 27th Constitutional Amendment “mainly touches 5 key areas: establishment of the Federal Constitutional Court, transfer of judges (Article 200), fixing the KP Senate election anomaly, [two per cent] cabinet size increase on smaller provinces’ demand (Article 130(6)), [and] amendments in Article 243 on defence services & presidential immunity.
“All other changes are merely consequential,” the PPP lawmaker added.
Discussion remaining on 3 points: Naek
Midway through the meeting, the participants took a break, during which Naek spoke to the media. He said, “Discussion on three points was left to be completed — transfers of cases from one high court to another high court, transfer of judges from high court to another high court and Article 243 (command of the armed forces).”
The discussion on the these matters would be resumed after lunch, he said, adding that some objections had been raised pertaining to transfer of judges and cases.
“Discussions are ongoing regarding this and it is hoped that a consensus would be reached,” he said.
Prior to today’s meeting, Naek told reporters that all provisions of the bill will be deliberated upon today.
Asked about suggestions made by various ruling allies and whether “two parties had come face to face on the immunity for the president and prime minister”, the PPP senator affirmed that all parties had a right to voice their opinion.
Noting that the proposals of the PML-N and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) will be considered in today’s meeting, Naek said, “Decisions will be taken based on whatever the majority’s opinion is.”
During another break, ANP’s Hidayatullah Khan told reporters that the committee had sought time until yesterday to decided on his party’s suggestion for changing the name of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Meanwhile, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said that on the clause regaridng changing the name of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it was discussed the provinces be taken into confidence. MQM-P’s suggestion regarding local governments was also discussed. He added that now the participants had been given “time to consult their parties’ leaderships”.
Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry said while speaking to the media that and all the decisions reached by the committees would be presented in the Senate in the form of a report.
