Islamabad (NNP) PATTAN Coalition-38 – a network of more than 250 associations, CBOs, labour unions established to protect and promote fundamental rights as enshrined in the Constitution – welcomes the civil society declaration issued by the HRCP that the proposed constitutional amendments must not infringe on the fundamental rights and independence of the judiciary.
We, however, would like to stress that the current parliament has no legitimacy to make any constitutional changes as it is incomplete with regard to the constitutional representation of the general as well the reserved seats for women and minorities in the senate, national and provincial assemblies, and for which the Election Commission has scandalously failed to implement the Order of the Supreme Court dated 12 July 2024.
The federal government has no credibility either in the eyes of the public to amend the Constitution as it was created after stealing the people’s democratic mandate by engineering the elections through Form-47, as verified in the Pattan Coalition-38’s audits of the General Election’s results. We believe that one of the chief motives behind pushing the controversial constitutional amendments in haste and secrecy is to prevent the judicial scrutiny and accountability of the most rigged General election in Pakistan’s history.
We are apprehensive that without first fulfilling the principles of constitutional representation of the parliament by implementing the Supreme Court Order of 12th July 2024, any compromise to change the Constitution will further erode the democratic credibility and trust especially of the people of smaller provinces.
We appeal to all stakeholders to oppose any attempt to amend the Constitution by an incomplete and tainted parliament.
“We also condemn strongly the ongoing attempts by the ruling coalition to forcibly change the loyalties of the members of opposition parties in the parliament by bribing, harassment, illegal detentions, and abductions.”
