Another petition filed in SC against 26th constitutional amendment

ISLAMABAD: One more petition has been filed in the Supreme Court, challenging the recently passed 26th Constitutional Amendment. The petition, filed by current and former lawmakers, pleads that the amendment be declared null and void.

The petitioners include Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-Mengal) Chairman Akhtar Mengal, Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) member Fahmida Mirza, National Democratic Movement (NDM) Chairman Mohsin Dawar, and former member of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar.

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The petitioners are demanding that the apex court declares specific clauses of the amendment unconstitutional. The petition highlights clauses 7, 14, 17, and 21 of the 26th Amendment, to ‘undermine the independence of the judiciary’.

The plea asks the SC to nullify these clauses and order an inquiry into the manner in which the votes were cast for the passage of the 26th amendment.

Speaking to the media outside the Supreme Court, Mohsin Dawar and Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar expressed strong concerns about the process of procuring and casting of votes for the amendment.

Dawar said that the amendment was pushed through the parliament without proper discussion and without adherence to the parliamentary procedure.

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The petition names the Federation, the Supreme Judicial Commission (SJC), the Special Parliamentary Committee, Senate Chairman Yusuf Raza Gilani, and officers of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as respondents.

The total number of petitions filed in the Supreme Court against this amendment has now reached eight, following the submission of this latest plea.