LAHORE: The ruling coalition appears to be preparing to propose the 27th amendment, a constitutional modification that would restructure local governments and “address issues skipped in previous legislation,” after seeing the 26th Amendment through to its natural conclusion.
Following a meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in Lahore, which was attended by important figures from both parties, sources revealed these details.
The PM Office released a brief press release stating that the meeting reviewed the country’s political situation, despite the fact that neither party made any official pronouncements regarding the topic or the choices that followed.
According to the statement, PM Shehbaz stated that the PPP was a crucial ally of the government and has backed every action taken to guarantee the nation’s economic stability.
According to the report, the PPP delegation expressed the party’s confidence in the actions the administration was taking in several areas and praised the government’s economic policies.
The PPP chairperson reportedly emphasized the importance of cooperation for parliament and democracy, according to media sources. According to reports, he claimed that the new amendment would restrain the forces that are not democratic.
The coalition parties helped pass the amendment by a two-thirds majority, and PM Shehbaz thanked them for their assistance. He asserted that there was a discernible drop in inflation as a result of improving economic indicators.
In response to inquiries on the meeting during a later appearance, Mr. Bhutto-Zardari said that he had just seen the prime to let him know of his “visit to Lahore for the polo match.”
However, Dawn was informed by a source that the so-called “27th Amendment” was discussed in PM Shehbaz’s Model Town home.
The source stated without providing any details, “There were some ‘other’ concerns, but both sides did discuss the contours of the new amendment to meet the MQM-P’s demand for empowering local bodies, the third tier of government.”
On the understanding that its demands regarding local governments would be addressed in the upcoming amendment, the MQM had backed the 26th Amendment.
The list of attendees also gave away the topics of the talks: the PML-N contingent was made up of Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar and Rana Sanaullah, while the PPP’s representatives were Punjab Governor Sardar Saleem Haider, former Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Syed Naveed Qamar, and Barrister Murtaza Wahab.
Barrister Amir Hasan, a PPP Punjab representative, said that the PM and PPP president discussed provincial problems as well as a few other topics during their meeting.
According to him, all parties must cooperate on a number of fronts, such as carrying out the unfinished business of the Charter of Democracy, revising the NAB rules, enacting additional judicial reforms, and stopping the practice of disparaging parliament and politicians without proof.
The meeting decided to keep the special parliamentary committee that worked on the 26th Amendment in place, according to PML-N veteran Rana Sanaullah later on Sunday.
The PML-N and PPP leaders, he said, were in agreement that they should concentrate on the 26th Amendment and that the next amendment, if it is taken up, will be introduced following a consensus. He denied that any spadework had started on the 27th Amendment.
He went on to say that discussions did not center on reintroducing any of the elements that were dropped from the 26th Amendment’s final draft.
In response to a question, Mr. Sanaullah stated that Chief Justice Yahya Afridi should refrain from leading the constitutional benches that the 26th amendment proposes, which should not have contentious justices.
