MULTAN   -  Chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) Maulana Fazlur Rehman said Friday that his party also wished to bring reforms in the judiciary and it had also offered some proposals in this regard.

While addressing a press conference, he stated that the JUI-F wanted to see powerful institutions working within their constitutional ambits. He stated that over 60,000 cases awaited judgment in the Supreme Court and 2.4 million cases were pending with other courts in the country. He, however, added that his party was in favour of legislation, based on consensus. Responding to a query, he stated that the JUI-F had no political alliance with the PTI, but they could discuss matters pertaining to parliamentary affairs. “We want to see legislation as per wishes of the masses,” he clarified.

To another question, he remarked that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had discussed the constitutional package with him and they agreed to share each others’ draft.

The JUI-F will continue to perform its parliamentary role, he added. To another question, he said that the masses were upset over inflation.

Also, the JUI-F leader revealed that the government’s proposal sought to establish a Federal Constitutional Court and had initially included provisions for extending judges’ tenure and increasing the number of judges. However, the government later withdrew these suggestions but retained the idea of creating the new court.

“We told the government that this is merely a headline; show us the actual draft first, and then we will discuss,” he said. The JUI-F chief disclosed that the government was initially reluctant to share the draft with his party, even though a copy had been provided to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). “Eventually, they gave us a copy, but I cannot say for sure whether both copies are identical. We do not know if there have been additions or subtractions in the new version,” he remarked.

In response to a question, Fazlur Rehman confirmed that work on their draft is underway, which will take about a week to ten days to complete. “We agree on the establishment of a Constitutional Court, but we rejected the government’s draft because of the evident malintent, particularly the extension of military exemptions at the cost of human rights,” he concluded.

“Legislation is the job of parliament, and we will not tolerate any restrictions on this. However, if the balance of power between institutions is not maintained, it could lead to the country’s destruction,” he warned.