Pakistan’s constitutional reform package

The reserved seat allocation remains unsettled, and the reform’s future lingers.

For the past few weeks, Pakistan has been embroiled in intense negotiation and political bargaining to pass a constitutional package bill in the Parliament. The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Noon (PML-N) does not have the numbers to muster the support in the Parliament. This amendment is politically significant for the PML-N. On the other hand, Fazlur Rahman of the Jamait-ul-Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), with eight seats in Parliament, is in for hard bargaining. It has insisted on arriving at a political consensus and has requested the government to delay the bill. The government appears to be in a hurry to pass the package as it will increase the tenure of the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), Qazi Faez Isa, who is perceived to be close to the ruling coalition.