(Bloomberg) — Pakistan’s ruling coalition approved a series of constitutional amendments early Monday morning in a show of strength in parliament by trimming the top judiciary’s power to appoint its chief.
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A parliamentary committee will now choose the chief justice from the three most senior judges of the Supreme Court, Justice Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said in a speech to the lower house of parliament. Under the previous law, the highest court would become the chief justice without the intervention of the government or parliament.
The changes were approved separately by a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate, during sessions that lasted until after midnight. The ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and backed by the Pakistan Peoples Party, co-chaired by President Asif Ali Zardari and his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, has been talking to political parties for weeks to drum up support for the achieve changes. .
This “essentially means a stronger coalition government in the future,” said Marva Khan, an assistant professor at the law school of the Lahore University of Management Sciences. “They now have the power over judicial appointments, which was largely in the hands of the chief justice. ”
The changes are seen as a major boost for the government facing economic challenges and a barrage of protests from the top opposition group led by former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party. the judiciary.
Many top Pakistani politicians have spent years in prison after court rulings, which were later overturned. Opposition leader Khan has been in prison for more than a year and faces multiple legal challenges.
In recent decades, controversial orders from the judiciary have undermined democracy and strengthened military rulers, Bilawal Zardari said in a speech to the National Assembly, in support of curtailing the powers of the chief justice.
Pakistan’s military has declared four martial law since the South Asian country gained independence in 1947, with the Supreme Court legalizing military rule each time. Even when elected governments are in power, the military has a strong influence on all major policies.
Parliament also limited the chief justice’s term of office to three years from the earlier practice of serving until the retirement age of 65, Tarar said. The changes come days before Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa retires.
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