Ex-PM Khan aide says party will hold Pakistan-wide protests against constitutional amendment

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s close aide and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Tuesday said his party was planning to launch a “final” anti-government protest against the ruling coalition’s contentious constitutional amendments related to judicial reforms. 

Pakistan’s parliament passed the 26th amendment to the constitution on Sunday night with a two-thirds majority amid protests from the opposition and the country’s legal fraternity, who both allege the government intends to exercise power over key judicial appointments through them. Pakistan’s government denies the allegations, saying that the amendments establish the parliament’s supremacy and will enable speedy justice for the people. 

Khan’s party led protests in Punjab and Pakistan’s capital Islamabad against the constitutional amendments earlier this month. The protest triggered clashes with Pakistani police in Islamabad after authorities sealed off the capital’s main arteries with shipping containers, beefed up security and cut off mobile phone services. The clashes caused the death of one police constable and injuries to other cops. 

“This time we will make another final plan to protest which will be carried out across Pakistan,” Gandapur told reporters in the northwestern Peshawar city. “People will come forth from all over Pakistan and where they cannot advance [to Islamabad] due to restrictions, they will carry on the protest there, and will be joined by others.”

Without sharing any date for the protest, Gandapur said it would be a continuous one. 

“This protest will now continue till we do not rid ourselves of this government because it is now taking decisions for its selfish interests and not for 250 million people,” the chief minister said. 

PAKISTAN’S COMMITTEE TO NOMINATE TOP JUDGE

Pakistan’s National Assembly speaker on Tuesday formed a 12-member parliamentary committee, in line with the new constitutional amendment, to nominate the next chief justice from a panel of the three most senior judges of the apex court. The committee includes eight members from the treasury benches and four from the opposition, including PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan and Senator Ali Zafar. 

In a message to reporters, however, the party said its members will not participate in a meeting of the committee to pick the new chief justice. 

The committee has been formed to pick a new chief justice as Pakistan’s incumbent top judge, Justice Qazi Faez Isa, is set to retire on Friday. 

Khan’s PTI has accused Justice Isa of being aligned with the government and says the amendment was passed to grant him an extension in office. The government has rejected these allegations.

Under the previous law, Justice Isa would have been automatically replaced by the most senior judge behind him, currently Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, who has consistently issued verdicts deemed favorable to Khan and the PTI.

Sharif’s government has passed the bill, which it says ensures the parliament will not remain a rubber stamp one, in the wake of its tensions with the judiciary that have been on the rise since the February national election.

In July, Pakistan’s top court ruled that the country’s election commission was wrong to have sidelined Khan’s party in the election campaign by forcing its lawmakers to stand as independents due to a technical violation. It also awarded Khan’s party a handful of non-elected reserved parliamentary seats for women and religious minorities, which would give Khan’s party a majority in parliament, angering the government.

Khan, who was ousted from office after a parliamentary vote in April 2022, remains popular among the masses. He has since waged an unprecedented campaign of defiance against the country’s powerful military, which is thought to be aligned with the government. Khan has been languishing in prison since August 2023 after being convicted on several charges ranging from corruption to treason that he says are politically motivated.