Islamabad – The joint parliamentary committee of the Senate and National Assembly has approved the 27th Constitutional Amendment, which will be presented in the Senate session tomorrow morning.
According to reports, the committee meeting to review and approve the draft of the 27th Amendment was held in Committee Room No. 5 under the chairmanship of Senator Farooq H. Naek.
The meeting was attended by Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Minister of State for Railways and Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani, Senate Standing Committee on Law Chairman Farooq H. Naek, Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan, PPP’s Naveed Qamar, and others. Although JUI had boycotted the previous day’s session, one of its members attended today’s meeting.
Leaders from PTI, JUI-F, MWM, and PkMAP did not attend and also boycotted both the National Assembly and Senate sessions.
The committee held two sessions — in the first, members approved amendments to Article 243 of the Constitution and discussed other proposed changes. After a short break, the session continued for over two hours, during which the draft of the 27th Amendment was approved. The report will now be presented in the upper house.
Government allies’ amendments rejected
All four amendments proposed by allied parties were rejected. MQM’s proposal to transfer powers to local governments under Article 140-A and BAP’s suggestion to increase provincial seats were both dismissed. The PML-Q’s amendment for a uniform national curriculum and ANP’s proposal to rename Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were also rejected.
The committee deferred final decisions on MQM’s and BAP’s amendments and authorized the Federal Law Minister and Committee Chairman to make the final call.
Following the meeting, Senator Farooq H. Naek confirmed the approval of the draft, noting that a few suggestions were incorporated.
Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, speaking to the media, said that all members had given their opinions unanimously, calling it a positive development. “It includes Article 243 and other related matters. Once the report is tabled in the Senate tomorrow, everything will become clear,” he added.
He stated that the amendment was approved through consensus, which is a welcome step for the country.
After approval by the joint committee, the 27th Constitutional Amendment will be tabled in the Senate tomorrow for final approval, where it is expected to pass with a majority vote.
