t-align: justify;">ISLAMABAD, Oct 03 (APP): Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Parliamentary Party Leader in the Senate Irfan-ul-Haque Siddiqui on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court ruling on the review petition regarding Article 63-A of the Constitution.
t-align: justify;">It was “a rectification of a major constitutional error, which provides relief not to any political party, but to the Constitution itself,” he said in an interview with a private channel, according to a press release.
t-align: justify;">Siddiqui, who is also Chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee, criticised the earlier verdict of a three-member SC bench given two years ago, alleging that an extra clause was inserted into the Constitution to favour a particular political party in Punjab, with the sole objective of replacing Hamza Shehbaz with Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi as the chief minister.
t-align: justify;">Highlighting the “dangers of judicial overreach”, he emphasized that executive and military dictatorships had limitations, but “judicial activism oversteps all boundaries”.
t-align: justify;">Responding to a question, he stressed the importance of support from Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman and his party’s legislators saying that negotiations were underway in that regard.
t-align: justify;">Political talks were taking place in broad daylight, he added.
t-align: justify;">Siddiqui expressed the optimism that Maulana Fazl would reach a decision soon, and a parliamentary session could be convened within a week or ten days.
t-align: justify;">Commenting on the current political environment, he accused the PTI of trying to create unrest during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.
t-align: justify;">He recalled the PTI’s protests in 2014 and the May 9 incidents, saying that the party leadership had not changed their mindset.
t-align: justify;">Agreeing with Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Siddiqui said that after October 25, amending the Constitution could become more challenging.
t-align: justify;">He said during the May 3 meeting of the Judicial Commission, the Law Minister had conveyed the government’s intention to introduce a constitutional package.
t-align: justify;">Siddiqui claimed that had the government any hidden agenda, it would have kept mum on the issue, but its bid to keep things transparent had created concern among certain quarters.
t-align: justify;">In that regard, he cited the May 6 judicial ruling which had deprived the coalition government of a two-thirds majority.
