for current assembly session. Coupled with the provincial autonomy bill this looks promising. Hope they go through with this.
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Saifullah proposes cut in president’s powers **
Wants parliament role in appointments of CJ, CEC; empowerment of PAs to change name of province; governor from the same province
By Umar Cheema
ISLAMABAD: The federal minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) has called for clipping the powers of the president vis-a-vis appointment of the chief justice and the chief election commissioner.
He believes that it should be made mandatory for the president to appoint the chief justice (CJ) only after securing approval of the nominee from the Senate instead of doing it on his own. Similarly, the president should be bound to consult the leader of the House and the opposition leader in the National Assembly before the appointment of the chief election commissioner (CEC). The CEC should also have all powers, which in his discretion are necessary for holding fair, just and transparent elections, according to an amendment proposed by the minister.
Salim Saifullah circulated a document carrying the list of proposed amendments to the prime minister, the PML president, the Law Ministry, the Establishment Division, the Parliamentary Affairs’ Ministry, the NRB and Senator Wasim Sajjad. Wasim, the Leader of the House in the Senate, is the head of the subcommittee formed to prepare a bill on provincial autonomy. The News has obtained a copy of the proposed amendments from the Law Ministry.
In the proposed amendments, he also touched upon the issue of missing persons and called for deletion of all the constitutional clauses facilitating the security forces to detain citizens illegally.
In the proposed amendments which are being deliberated upon in line with the government efforts to table a bill on provincial autonomy in parliament, Saifullah has suggested a number of drastic changes. Besides proposing the empowerment of a provincial assembly to change the name of a province with a two-thirds majority, he has also tried to discourage the trend of “imported” governors and said he should be from the same province.
Saifullah has also called for handing over the control of seaports to the respective provinces and that the mineral resources should be put at the disposal of the federating units. The document discloses promising changes and can well be termed the “panacea for the prevailing ills”, ranging from the judicial crisis to that of provincial disharmony and the illegal detentions being allegedly made by the intelligence agencies. He has also proposed that an amendment to Article 73 should be made to make it mandatory for the National Assembly to incorporate the recommendations of the Senate on the money bill.
“In case the unanimous recommendations of the Senate are not incorporated, a joint session of parliament shall be convened to consider the money bill, and after it has been passed in the joint session, it should be presented to the president,” said a proposed amendment in Clause 1(a) of Article 73.
Saifullah has also proposed an amendment to Article 177 that is about the appointment of the chief justice. Unlike the prevalent practice in which the president can appoint a person as the chief justice without consulting anybody, he has proposed an amendment to Clause 1 of Article 177, to incorporate the words “after being approved by the Senate”. If it is amended, the president would be unable to make the appointment without the clearance of the nominee for this constitutional office, from the Senate.
The amendment to Article 213 that deals with the appointment of the chief election commissioner has also been proposed. According to the proposed amendment, “There shall be a chief election commissioner who shall be appointed by the president after consultation with the leader of the House and the leader of the opposition.”
Further, an amendment to Clause 3 of the said Article has been proposed to be read as following: “The commissioner shall have all the powers, which in his discretion are necessary for holding fair, just and transparent elections.”
Saifullah has also proposed an amendment to Clause 2 of Article 10. According to the proposed amendment, any person arrested or detained under any law providing for protective detention, would have to be produced before the court of magistrate within 24 hours.
Through this proposed amendment, Saifullah has apparently called for a trial through the court of law of the missing persons whether the Baloch nationalists or the alleged Jihadi activists whose forced disappearances have whipped up resentment against the government.
Saifullah has proposed the omission of Clauses 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of Article 10 of the Constitution, dealing with the arrest and detention and are presently facilitating the security agencies to put under arrest several persons.
The proposed amendment to Clause 2 of Article 153 of the Constitution calls for an equal representation of the federating units on the Council of Common Interests (CCI) through the induction of four federal ministers from each province.
As the NWFP’s public efforts to change the name of the province have failed time and again, Saifullah has tried to address this issue by proposing the addition of a clause to Article 1. “Another clause can be added to this Article empowering the assembly of the federating unit to change the name of the unit provided two-third members of the assembly vote for the change,” the document said.
Saifullah has also proposed the deletion of the Objectives Resolution of Pakistan from the introductory part of the Constitution. The proposed amendments also call for delegating the power of president to the provincial assembly speaker vis-a-vis the appointment of the acting governor.
Saifullah has proposed that mineral resources like gas and oil exploration should be put at the disposal of the provinces. He has also proposed that the administration of seaports of Karachi and Gwadar should be handed over to the respective federating units instead of the Federal Government. He has also proposed the deletion of a number of clauses of federal legislative and concurrent lists.
Havent seen this anywhere else, if anyone’s got more info. pls share. Sounds very promising.
