ISLAMABAD - Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar Saturday said that the process of political consultation was underway as the government was trying to develop a consensus on the proposed constitutional amendments.
Talking to media along with PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi in the Parliament House here, Tarar said participation of all political parties in the consultation process is the beauty of democracy. He said the government is giving preference to political consensus despite having the required number in the parliament for the constitutional package. He said taking all the political parties on board is the duty of the incumbent government. The Minister said efforts were afoot to complete the consultation process on Saturday in any case. Responding to a question, Tarar said there is a zero-tolerance policy for the elements who are trying to create chaos and disrupt peace in the country. He said no NRO will be given to any national criminal and elements involved in spreading fake news regarding molestation case have been traced. He said the students were brought to the streets through an organized campaign and an FIR has been registered against the handlers.
Recounting the various political engagements in the past few days, Tarar said despite the numbers and homework being complete, the efforts were underway to achieve broader consensus. He reiterated that the consultation was “speedily under way” and was further hastened with the government aiming to complete it at any cost on Saturday. “As Bilawal said yesterday, we have other options present but we are democratic-minded people and it is our desire to move forward on this matter after a complete consensus.” He said there was no issue in the number of lawmakers required to pass the package but democratic societies and people aimed to play their role in consensus building. He said the other options would be exercised in the “greater interest”. The constitutional package is a proposed set of amendments in the Constitution, including the extension of the chief justice’s term.
Speaking on the occasion, Hanif Abbasi said the government condemns the politics of agitation and believes in complete freedom of political consultation for all the political parties. He said no one will be allowed to weaken the state institutions and challenge the writ of the government.
Separately, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also maintained that the government was pursuing a broad consensus on the constitutional package in both houses of the parliament despite the government’s numbers being “pretty much complete”.
Speaking to the media at the Parliament House, he said, “We want to develop broad-based consensus in both the assembly and the Senate so that this legislation is passed.” “Our numbers are complete. We presented a final draft yesterday [Friday] and the PTI were due to meet their leader [Imran Khan] to agree on it today. However, their MNAs are going against the leadership.” He said, “The major goal of this amendment is to establish the supremacy of parliament, as guaranteed in the Constitution”.
Asif said that the Supreme Court issued verdicts over the past several years that “encroached on the supremacy of parliament”. He urged the Supreme Court to “work within its defined role” and “not trespass on parliament’s turf as it is unconstitutional”.
Asif then turned to allegations of parliamentarians being intimidated and their families being abducted and largely dismissed them criticising the PTI for being “known for making these false statements”.