Azam Nazeer Tarar says constitutional changes remain off the table without consensus
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar. PHOTO: FILE
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said on Saturday that there was currently no sign of a 28th constitutional amendment and stressed that any move towards constitutional changes would proceed only after consultation with coalition partners and other stakeholders.
Addressing the media after attending the Justice AR Cornelius conference in Lahore, the law minister said the government was functioning under a coalition structure where even ordinary legislation required consultation, making constitutional amendments impossible without consensus.
Tarar said the consultation process would move forward once the coalition parties gave a signal, adding that all stakeholders would be taken on board because certain issues required national consensus.
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Referring to the 2009 constitutional reforms, he said consensus at the time was achieved through national dialogue and any future process would follow the same path. He clarified that no final draft of any constitutional amendment currently existed and said the contours of any proposed amendment could not be determined until a formal draft was prepared.
The Law Minister said the federation was facing several governance challenges and there was a need for serious discussions on constitutional and administrative issues.
He noted that population growth remained a key factor in the National Finance Commission’s formula, while various provincial and regional demands, including the issue of a Seraiki province, continued to surface in policy discussions.
He further said that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan had advocated for stronger local governments while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had mandated efforts to build consensus on various constitutional and government proposals.
